High child cancer rates near plant

Press, 12 June 1984, Page 15

High child cancer rates near plant

NZPA staff correspondent London Investigations by a British Government Committee of Inquiry have confirmed there is a concentration of cancer among village children near the Sellafield nuclear site, the “Daily Telegraph” newspaper has reported. It said that further investigations into contamination from the plant were likely after the committee confirmed there are 10 times the national average of leukaemia cases in Seascale, the West Cumbrian village nearest to Sellafield. In other nearby communities of Bootle and Haverthwaite, the incidence was five times the national average. The disclosure comes after demands earlier this year for strong action against radioactive contamination from Britain’s main nuclear reprocessing plant. People were warned to keep off the beaches round Sellafield for a stretch of 30km until they were decontaminated for the summer months. The “Daily “Telegraph” has reported that the report

by the committee, set up last November, will go to Government Ministers early next month, and be made available to the public a fortnight later. No definite link was established in the report between radioactive emissions from the plant, which used to be called Windscale, and the high incidence of leukaemia. But it is believed there are enough grounds for an in-depth study of the background of all children affected by the disease, not just those who have died. Further investigations are expected to look at the validity of the certified causes of death, the type of food the victims ate, whether they drank possibly radiation contaminated milk, and the places they have visited. A Labour member of Parliament, Mr George Foulkes, is also concerned about figures showing the high incidence of leukaemia round the Hunterston nuclear power station in Ayreshire, Scotland. The medical magazine, the “Lancet,” reported double the expected rate in the under-24 age group

within 15 km of the plant, and that an outbreak of leukaemia took place in the west of Scotland in the 19705. Acid rain is causing severe ecological damage in the south of Scotland, according to a report by the Nature Conservation Council, reportedly leaked to the Labour Party. The “Guardian” newspaper said the report, which was to have been revised and published later this year, says that the high level of acidity in the southern lochs has already killed plants, insects, and fish and caused suffering to other wildlife. Although the document deals with the problem of acid rain throughout Britain, it singles out the rural south of Scotland for particular attention and calls for a reduction in sulphur emissions which cause acid rain, particularly from power stations. Salmon, trout, frogs, otters, and birds have all been affected by acid rain, says the report, which claims that Britain is the greatest single source of such pollution in western Europe.