Cancer 'higher near power plants'

Rates of leukaemia are higher in children and young people living near nuclear plants, a review of several studies has revealed.

The report, published in the European Journal of Cancer Care, said death rates for children up to the age of nine were up to 24% higher, depending on how near they lived to nuclear facilities.

Researchers reviewed 17 different studies, including seven in the UK, carried out between 1984 and 1999, to compile the statistics.

The other reports used in the review came from Canada, France, the USA, Germany, Japan and Spain.

Figures from the report showed leukaemia rates were elevated by 14% to 21% in children aged up to nine, and 7% to 10% in those aged up to 25.

Death rates from leukaemia for children and young people aged up to 25 were between 2% and 18% higher.

Lead author Dr Peter Baker, from the Medical University of South Carolina, said the cause of the higher rates were unclear.

He said: "Although our meta-analysis found consistently elevated rates of leukaemia near nuclear facilities, it is important to note that there are still many questions to be answered, not least about why these rates increase.

"It is clear that further research is needed into this important subject."

He added that the review had been carried out to provide a bigger pool of statistics than just one rural study, which often had only a small sample size.

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