Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2011 Jan 4;104(1):12-8.
doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6605982. Epub 2010 Nov 9.

Childhood leukaemia, nuclear sites, and population mixing

L Kinlen  1
Affiliations
Review

Childhood leukaemia, nuclear sites, and population mixing

L Kinlen. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

The excess of childhood leukaemia (CL) in Seascale, near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in rural NW England, suggested that an epidemic of an underlying infection, to which CL is a rare response, is promoted by marked population mixing (PM) in rural areas, in which the prevalence of susceptibles is higher than average. This hypothesis has been confirmed by 12 studies in non-radiation situations. Of the five established CL excesses near nuclear sites, four are associated with significant PM; in the fifth, the Krummel power station in Germany, the subject has not been thoroughly investigated.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Alexander FE, Ricketts TJ, McKinney PA, Cartwright RA (1990) Community lifestyle characteristics and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children. Lancet 336: 1461–1465 - PubMed
    1. Alexander FE, Chan LC, Lam TH, Yuen P, Leung NK, Ha SY, Yuen HL, Li CK, Li CK, Lau YL, Greaves MF (1997) Clustering of childhood leukaemia in Hong Kong: association with the childhood peak and common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and with population mixing. Br J Cancer 75: 457–763 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bithell JF, Dutton SJ, Draper GJ, Neary NM (1994) Distribution of childhood leukaemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas near nuclear installations in England and Wales. BMJ 309: 501–505 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bithell JF, Keegan TJ, Kroll ME, Murphy MFG, Vincent TJ (2010) Childhood leukaemia near British nuclear installations: methodological issues and recent results. Radiat Prot Dosimetry 138: 89–91, with correction to Letter, Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2008;132:191–197 - PubMed
    1. Black D (1984) Investigation of the Possible Increased Incidence of Cancer in West Cumbria. Report of the Independent Advisory Group. HMSO: London