Following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,
hundreds of thousands of clean-up workers were exposed primarily
to external radiation with those sent earliest receiving the
highest doses. (140 mGy in 1986, 90 mGy in 1987 and 40 mGy in
1988-89). Studies of cancer among clean-up workers have focused
on leukemia. Investigators in DCEG have conducted a case-control
study of leukemia and other hematological diseases based on a
large cohort of male clean-up workers from Ukraine (~110,000).
Individual doses to the bone marrow were estimated using a new
method developed for this study. In part because of the
intriguing findings, the study has been extended to accrue cases
for an additional five years. For more information, contact
Kiyohiko Mabuchi. In a separate study of cancer incidence among
Chernobyl clean-up workers from Estonia and Latvia, DCEG
investigators did not observe a significantly elevated risk of
leukemia. Thyroid cancer was increased, but this appeared to be
due largely to screening. For