EH-90-1 Study of childhood leukimia at British Nuclear Fuels Facilities

                           DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

                        OFFICE OF HEALTH - BULLETIN
Issue No. 90-1

You may have seen reports in the news media recently about a study of 
childhood leukemia in the area around the British Nuclear Fuels (BNF) facility
at Sellafield, England.  On February 15, 1990, Professor Martin Gardner of the
Medical Research Council Environmental Epidemiology Unit in Southhampton,
England, and his colleagues reported the results of their study of childhood
leukemia and lymphoma that looked at a wide variety of risk factors among the
cases around Sellafield and a comparison group.   They found that the risk of
leukemia was increased among children whose fathers were employed at
Sellafield prior to the child's conception when compared to children whose
fathers were not so employed.  They also reported an association between the
radiation doses fathers received and their children's risk of developing
leukemia.

This study and its reported findings have received considerable attention in
the United States, as well as in Europe.  In an editorial that accompanied
the papers, Dr. Valerie Beral, Director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund
Cancer Epidemiology Unit, indicated that the implications of this study are
sufficiently important to warrant further investigation.  Other scientists in
the United Kingdom, including Professor Peter Smith of the London School of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, independently have reanalyzed the data from
the Gardner study.  They believe that the study is methodologically sound and
that the results need to be taken seriously.  It is important to note that
the findings do not correlate with the results of earlier studies,
particularly with studies of the offspring of men exposed to in excess of 10
rem due to the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Clearly, more
work needs to be done in an attempt to better understand what risks of
childhood leukemia may be associated with paternal radiation exposure. 
According to news reports, additional investigations are underway in the
United Kingdom. 

Health researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have reviewed the
British study and have discussed the study and its findings with scientists
at the National Academy of Sciences and the Radiation Effects Research
Foundation.  At present, DOE Officials are following the activities in England
and expect to initiate one or more studies of the effects of paternal
radiation exposure on the health of workers' offspring in the United States.