Hanford study finds high risk in low radiation--Exposed workers died of cancer

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Hanford study finds high risk in low radiation Exposed workers died of cancer

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

By TOM PAULSON mailto:tompaulson@seattle- pi.commailto:tompaulson@seattle-pi.com

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Hanford Nuclear Reservation workers exposed to what is considered safe levels of radiation still died from cancer at higher rates, a North Carolina scientist has determined.

The findings by Dr. Steve Wing, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, suggest the federal standard for radiation exposure may be inadequate.

Wing found increased deaths from multiple myeloma, a relatively rare blood disease, among workers at Hanford and three other nuclear facilities. "In our study, none of the multiple myeloma cases had a dose record that exceeded the federal standard," Wing said.

His findings were reported in this month's Annals of Epidemiology. The current occupational standard for radiation exposure per year is five rem (a unit measuring full-body exposure), set by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The average person is exposed to natural "background" radiation ranging from one-tenth to one-third of a rem per year.

Larry Elliott, chief of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health division responsible for monitoring nuclear plant workers, said the agency has dozens of studies underway to determine if the exposure standards need revision.

"One study is not going to be definitive," Elliott said. However, he said Wing's findings are supported by similar results from other research projects.

Wing and his colleagues looked at nearly 500 people who work or had worked at four different U.S. Department of Energy nuclear plants: Hanford near Richland, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Savannah River in South Carolina.

In January, after decades of secrecy and denials about health hazards at nuclear plants, the Department of Energy publicly acknowledged that many of its workers were made ill by exposure to radiation.

The general results of many studies like Wing's were made known to workers, but the details were not published. The agency has since supported further research and promised to compensate the workers. Wing looked at the radiation exposure histories of 98 workers who died from multiple myeloma and compared them with 391 age-matched other workers selected randomly from 115,143 people hired before 1979. Wing's team found that people who had higher exposures to radiation -- even if within accepted standards -- were at higher risk for the cancer. Older workers with five rems or more were 3.5 times more likely to die from multiple myeloma than other workers.

Male workers died at twice the rate of female workers; those hired before 1948 also died at twice the rate of workers hired after 1948; and blacks, though few in number in this work force, were five times as likely to develop the cancer, the study showed.

NIOSH sponsored Wing's study because of previous research done at Hanford suggesting a link between multiple myeloma and higher doses of occupational radiation exposure.

Both Elliott and Wing said the primary problem with radiation exposure standards is they are largely based on studies of survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan.

"That's a whole different type of exposure than we're talking about in the workplace setting," Elliott said. "Not much is known about occupational exposure to radiation and its relationship to cancer." Wing said his study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests chronic exposure to even low levels of radiation may pose a cancer risk. But not everyone agrees, he said.

"Some people even think a little radiation is good for you," Wing said.

The bottom line, he said, is we don't know much about low-level, chronic radiation exposure in the workplace because there's so little data on it.

"There are exposures to ionizing radiation in lots of industries but there are very few situations where people actually . . . monitor their exposure," Wing said.

The newfound willingness of the Department of Energy to participate in research into this potential hazard, Wing said, likely will benefit many people beyond nuclear plant workers.

http://www.postintelligencer.com/local/hanf11.shtml

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), April 11, 2000


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