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The risk of mortality from leukaemia and cancer among radiation workers increases with dose, according to a study. Findings were based on a study of records of more than 175,000 radiation workers on the National Registry for Radiation Workers, which suggest that high doses of more than 0.6 Sieverts could triple the risk of leukaemia. The risk of cancer excluding leukaemia increased by 20% after radiation doses higher than 0.6 Sieverts, according to the research. Workers in the study were employed by organisations such as the Atomic Weapons Establishment, British Nuclear Fuels plc, the Ministry of Defence, Rolls Royce Submarines and the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Information concerning the incidence of childhood leukaemia in a particular postal area should not be disclosed unless either it could be anonymised so that it was not personal data or could be released in a form which did not contravene one of the data protection principles under the Data Protection Act 1998.

A three-year struggle to release childhood leukaemia figures in Dumfries and Galloway has been referred back to Scotland's information commissioner. The House of Lords has ruled he must decide whether the information can be "anonymised" sufficiently for it not to constitute personal data.

Mortality and cancer incidence were studied in the National Registry for Radiation Workers in, relative to earlier analyses, an enlarged cohort of 174 541 persons, with longer follow-up (to 2001) and, for the first time, cancer registration data. SMRs for all causes and all malignant neoplasms were 81 and 84 respectively, demonstrating a 'healthy worker effect'. Within the cohort, mortality and incidence from both leukaemia excluding CLL and the grouping of all malignant neoplasms excluding leukaemia increased to a statistically significant extent with increasing radiation dose. Estimates of the trend in risk with dose were similar to those for the Japanese A-bomb survivors, with 90% confidence intervals that excluded both risks more than 2-3 times greater than the A-bomb values and no raised risk. Some evidence of an increasing trend with dose in mortality from all circulatory diseases may, at least partly, be due to confounding by smoking. This analysis provides the most precise estimates to date of mortality and cancer risks following occupational radiation exposure and strengthens the evidence for raised risks from these exposures. The cancer risk estimates are consistent with values used to set radiation protection standards.

CLAIMS of increased risk of leukaemia near nuclear facilities will be on the agenda at a Cumbrian conference next month. International health researchers will present the latest evidence of health effects at the 20th Low-Level Radiation and Health Conference, at the University of Cumbria's Ambleside campus on June 7-8.

A COMMUNITY watchdog group is calling for more information about a German study which suggests that there are clusters of childhood leukaemia cases near nuclear power station sites. The Sizewell Stakeholder Group - set up to improve liaison between the nuclear site, the local community and regulators - wants to know if there is any UK implication. The new study, commissioned by the German Federal office for Radiological Protection, looked at childhood cancers in the vicinity of the country's nuclear power plants.

A RENOWNED scientist urged Cumbrians to take action over nuclear power plants during a special meeting in Kendal. Dr Ian Fairlie gave a talk to the South Lakeland Friends of the Earth discussing the links between radiation from nuclear power plants and childhood leukaemia. He outlined some of the possible risks from the nuclear facilities at Heysham and Sellafield. Dr Fairlie urged the concerned audience to write to their local MP asking for information about doses of radiation in South Lakeland and the risks.

A study has been launched in Switzerland to investigate whether children living near nuclear reactors have a higher risk of cancer. The study - Childhood Cancer and Nuclear Power Plants in Switzerland - follows an analysis by German scientists last year that found a possible link between higher rates of leukaemia in children who live near nuclear power plants. Researchers will study cancer rates among Swiss minors born between 1985 and 2007. It will compare the data against the distances the children lived from reactors when and before they became ill.

THE UK government has made an 11th-hour intervention in the long-running dispute between the Scottish NHS and anti-nuclear campaigners over the release of childhood leukaemia figures. Justice secretary Jack Straw's department was given leave to intervene earlier this month when the landmark case reached the House of Lords.

Around 1000 servicemen who were involved in the nuclear testing conducted off the coast of Australia in the 1950's, have finally won their battle to be allowed to take their claim for compensation to the courts. With the help of "after the event" insurance and a "no win no fee" lawyer, they are finally on their way to receiving a payout from the MOD for the illnesses which have plagued them and their families ever since. The servicemen were involved in the testing of nuclear devices in the South Pacific in the 1950's and were expected to carry out such tasks as burying radioactive material and washing the vehicles used to transport the devices. At no time were they provided with protective clothing or told of the possible risks to their health. The eventual outcome has been cases of cancer, leukaemia in the servicemen's children, skin conditions and infertility. The men have attempted to get legal aid to take their case to court but were refused. They finally turned to lawyer Neil Sampson, a partner at Rosenblat Solicitors, who agreed to take on the case on a "no win, no fee" basis. The action is one of the largest group actions taken in the UK and has been financed by gaining After The Event (ATE) insurance from Brit Insurance. The cost is expected to be millions of pounds. It has previously been thought that ATE insurance is usually capped at £200,000, but changing markets have meant that it is possible to find this type of insurance to cover as much as £20m.

French Polynesians who have had their claims for compensation for the effects of nuclear testing rejected say they won't give up their bids for redress. France carried out many nuclear tests in French Polynesia from 1960 until 1996, and its government has said it will compensate the victims. But campaigner, John Doom, says eight people who took their cases to French Polynesia's industrial relations tribunal were unsuccessful. He says the three surviving workers have leukaemia, and they and the five widows will consult with lawyers over how to continue with their bids.

Sellafield is the site of Britain's worst nuclear accident. A blaze in 1957 in the reactor of Pile 1 released a massive plume of radioactive caesium, iodine and polonium that spread across Britain and northern Europe. Up to 200 cases of cancer - including thyroid and breast cancer and also leukaemia - may have been triggered by the fire's emissions, according to estimates which were published by epidemiologists led by Professor Richard Wakeford, of Manchester University, two years ago.

"The autobiography of a former director of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is likely to reignite fears about the safety of nuclear power, as Britain prepares for a new generation of reactors, by exposing the panic that rocked the industry two decades ago when a link was suggested between radiation and childhood leukaemia. At its height, workers at Sellafield were advised not to have children, while bosses at the Cumbrian nuclear complex even proposed establishing a sperm bank or calling for "radiation volunteers" from among older workers in order to reduce levels of exposure for workers of child-bearing age."

"Children exposed to 137Caesium (137C) released from the Chernobyl disaster fallout show signs of breathing difficulties, according to research published online this week in Environmental Health Perspectives. The research adds changes in lung function to the list of health problems associated with long-term exposure to the radiation. "The long term prognosis of these children is poor," Erik Svendsen and colleagues write. "Some will probably develop significant respiratory problems as they age." Chernobyl was the most serious nuclear accident in history. One of the plant's reactors exploded in 1986, showering radioactive material across many European countries with parts of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine worst hit. The health of people living in these countries has been affected by the radiation, which is known to cause thyroid cancer, leukaemia, cataracts, and cardiovascular disease. More than twenty years after the event people living in some areas continue to be exposed to radioisotopes that linger in the environment through tainted water supplies and locally grown food. One of these is the Ukrainian farming district of Narodickesky, which lies 80km west of the nuclear power plant. The region experienced "considerable" radioactive fallout from the disaster leaving the soil in some areas heavily contaminated with 137C, according to the authors. "