Ukraine, thyroid cancer cases

Within the following few weeks 28 of the 32 acute deaths of exposed employees were judged due to radiation exposure. Thyroid cancer in children under 18 rose from an incidence of 0.5 of 100,000 (1986-1988 baseline) to more than ten times that level (5-8 per 100,000) in Belarus (1993-2002). Increases were just as consistent, but of less magnitude for Ukraine, going from 0.2 per 100,000 from 1986 to 1988 (baseline) to 5-10 times that level (1 to 2.2 per 100,000) from 1993 to 2002. There is little doubt that Chernobyl radiation caused thyroid cancer. In 2,000 there were 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer in children under 18 drinking milk contaminated with in 2002 there were 12 deaths related to these exposures. 

The explosion of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl (spelling changed recently to Chornobyl) in the Ukraine on April 26, 1986 sent radioactive material as far away as Sweden.90 The current death toll is 45. There has been a huge increase in childhood thyroid cancer, with cases as far as 500 km away 91 (U. S. bomb tests have also increased the incidence of thyroid cancers in the western United States.92) There is a 30-km exclusion zone around the plant where no one is allowed to live. This was created by the evacuation of 135,000 people 93 The accident is said to have happened because of combination of the physical characteristics of the reactor, the design of the control rods, human error and management shortcomings in the design, and implementation of the safety experiment. ... 

However, this incident was dwarfed in scale by the meltdown that took place at the Chernobyl reactor in the former Soviet Union or modern-day Ukraine in 1986. Setting Windscale at 1 on an 1 release scale, Chernobyl comes in at 2300 (Williams, 2006), and within a few years reports were made of a marked increase in cases of thyroid cancer in neighboring areas, such as modern-day Belarus (Kazakov et al, 1992). Studies of the aftermath of the incident continue today, although much uncertainty remains as to the long-term environmental and health effects (Baverstock and Williams, 2006). 

Ingestion is often a very important source of dose, oeeurring when eontaminated food is eaten or from contamination on the hands. Ingesting milk eontaminated hy the Chemohyl accident has caused many cases of thyroid cancer in Belarus and Ukraine. Very high, possibly fatal doses have resulted from ingestion of contamination from a ruptured souree. If eontam-ination is suspected, wash your hands, do not eat or smoke, keep your hands away from your mouth, and advise the pubhe to do the same. However, early (deterministie) injuries and deaths from ingestion of radioactive material are very rare. 

The Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 resulted in the largest radiation exposure in recent history. The radioactive materials released contained high levels of radioactive iodine (particularly, with a half-life of 8 days), an element that accumulates in the thyroid gland as a component of thyroid hormone. Following the explosion, people were exposed to deadly radioactive materials estimated to be 100 times greater than that associated with the detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. In Belarus, thyroid cancer in children under 18 increased from an incidence of 0.03-0.05 cases per 100,000 (1986-1988 data) to more than 10 times that level (5-8 cases per 100,000) in the period 1993-2002. Increases in thyroid cancer also were noted in Ukraine, with rates going from 0.02 per 100,000 (1986-1988 data) to 5-10 times that level (1-2.2 per 100,000) over the period from 1993-2002 (Reiners et al., 2013). There is little doubt that Chernobyl radiation exposure caused thyroid cancer among children in the affected area. 

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