YOUNG children living in coastal areas around the Sellafield nuclear plant
in Cumbria are up to four times more likely to get a brain tumour, according
to a confidential report. And those aged under five with homes close to the
Welsh coast have more than double the risk of developing cancer than
youngsters living further inland, it is claimed.
Incidents of leukaemia in all ages are 60 per cent higher than average while
total cancer rates are 40 per cent higher, according to the secret Irish
government-funded research leaked to the Sunday Express. The devastating
report is to be used in a legal case in the Irish High Court by
four campaigners demanding the end of radioactive discharges into the Irish
Sea from the troubled nuclear plant. Its disclosure could be the final straw
for the Sellafield facility as several countries last week stepped up their
campaign to shut it down and Tony Blair warned owners British Nuclear Fuels
to "raise their game".
The report's authors claim the study proves beyond doubt the link between
higher rates of cancers and the discharges which they say drift with tidal
currents from the plant and wash up on the coasts of Wales, Ireland,
north-west England and Scotland.
The four campaigners, residents of Dundalk opposite Sellafield on the Irish
Sea coast, are suing BNFL for damages at the High Court in Dublin, claiming
they suffer an increased risk of cancer because of its operations at
Sellafield. They are also trying to get an injunction to stop the
discharges. The Irish government funded the two-year study which analyses
the geographical
spread of more than 200,000 cancer cases in Wales between 1974 and 1989.
The report was completed in February. It shows much greater risks of many
different types of cancer for those living close to the Welsh coast, with
the risk reducing the further away people live from the sea.
Children under 10 living within 800 metres of the sea are three times more
likely to suffer a brain tumour than the average for Wales and England.
Within 2kms the risk drops to 60 per cent higher and up to 5kms they have a
third greater chance. Under fives in the northern Wales coastal strip are
3.9 times more likely to develop a tumour. Children up to five years old
living up to 800 metres from the coast are 2.2 times as likely to get
cancer, according to the report. The statistics also show less dramatic, but
still significantly increased, risks for all age groups within the coastal
strip.
Researchers found 14,445 people living within 800 metres of the sea were
reported as suffering from cancer between 1974 and 1989. Based on average
rates only 10,419 should have been expected to get the disease, giving them
a 40 per cent greater chance of having cancer. There were 325 leukaemia
cases when statistically there should only have been 202. People within the
coastal strip therefore had a 60 per cent greater risk of the disease.
From 800 metres to 2kms, 2kms to 5kms and 5kms to 11kms, the increased risks
of leukaemia were 52 per cent, 41 per cent and 13 per cent. Within the
coastal band people of all ages had a 50 per cent greater risk of colon
cancer and 15 per cent increased chance of lung cancer.
The report's senior author, Dr Chris Busby, of Aberystwyth-based
environmental consultancy Green Audit, believes radioactive discharges from
Sellafield into the Irish Sea are behind the increase in cancers. Dr Busby
said: "Within the Welsh coastal strip I believe 5,500 people who developed
cancers during this period and 3,000 who died would not have done so if
Sellafield had not been operating.
"After being pumped into the Irish Sea, radioactive particles are washed
around in the water and end up on the coasts of Wales, Ireland, north-west
England and Scotland. They are re-suspended by wave action and blown ashore
in the air. People inhale them and from there they get into the lymphatic
system where they irradiate the immune system and cause cancers.
"It is outrageous and almost beyond belief to me that Sellafield is still
allowed to pump this stuff into the sea."
Last week Irish energy minister Joe Jacob predicted that a June meeting of
Ospar, the international convention which controls marine pollution in the
Irish Sea, could signal the "beginning of the end" for the power station.
He said: "Successive Irish governments have been attempting to close it for
a long time but never with such a background of international opposition.
With the organised opposition of our colleagues, I think it is going to be
very, very difficult to say no to us this time. This is a great opportunity
to fulfil our goal."
The figures for the leaked report came from the Welsh Cancer Registry, which
advised the then Welsh Office and was replaced in 1997 by the Welsh Cancer
Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. Dr Roy Hamlet, scientific secretary to
the Government's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the
Environment, said the WCR had not kept a copy of the statistics and Dr
Busby had refused to hand over all his data. A statement from the committee
said: "COMARE has found no evidence to support the contention that there is
an increased incidence of childhood leukaemia close to the Irish Sea."
