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The future of the disarmament agenda is on the line now as New START ratification moves forward in the US Senate.

Childhood Leukemia and Cancers Near German Nuclear Reactors

Significance, Context, and Ramifications of Recent Studies

A government-sponsored study of childhood cancer in the proximity of German nuclear power plants (German acronym KiKK) found that children < 5 years living < 5 km from plant exhaust stacks had twice the risk for contracting leukemia as those residing > 5 km. The researchers concluded that since “this result was not to be expected under current radiation-epidemiological knowledge” and confounders could not be identified, the observed association of leukemia incidence with residential proximity to nuclear plants “remains unexplained.” This unjustified conclusion illustrates the dissonance between evidence and assumptions. There exist serious flaws and gaps in the knowledge on which accepted models for population exposure and radiation risk are based. Studies with results contradictory to those of KiKK lack statistical power to invalidate its findings. The KiKK study’s ramifications add to the urgency for a public policy debate regarding the health impact of nuclear power generation. 

International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol 15, No 3 (2009)

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  • Stop $25 billion in Nuclear Giveaways in the House

    Putting another $25 billion into costly, economically risky and polluting new reactors will be at the expense of solving climate change with clean, renewable energy and efficiency. Call or email your Representatives today and tell them that these subsidies are unacceptable.

  • Don't Undermine Public Safety in New Reactor Licensing

    Even as the consequences of lax regulation and lax oversight are washing oil onto the Gulf coast, proposed climate legislation in the Senate would cut regulatory corners in licensing new nuclear reactors.

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In the Spotlight

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    On the 65th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the Sacramento Annual August Peace Event and Physicians for Social Responsibility-Sacramento screened "Countdown To Zero," a film that traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs. Read more about this month’s chapter in the spotlight event on Hiroshima.