HSE investigation of leukaemia and other cancers in the children of male workers at Sellafield.

  • Great Britain. Health and Safety Executive.
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: HSE investigation of leukaemia and other cancers in the children of male workers at Sellafield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    9 The purpose of this report is to present the objectives, methodologies and findings of the various studies which comprise this investigation. 10 11 12 Since the results of Professor Gardner’s report suggested that leukaemia and NHL in some children was related to paternal employment and in particular the fathers’ exposure to external radiation, HSE decided to focus its investigation on Sellafield and the occupational histories of fathers. The investigation was planned to examine the fathers’ exposure to external radiation* and a number of other employment factors not considered by Professor Gardner. These included exposure to internal radiation’, and to known or suspect carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals. Additionally, fathers’ job histories, ie where they worked, what type of occupation, and their involvement in known radiation or other incidents, were examined. The objective was to see if any of these factors could explain or clarify the association reported by Professor Gardner. Because it was recognised that a full epidemiological study would take some years to complete, it was decided to split the investigation into 3 parts. The first part was to examine the occupational histories of those case fathers who had worked at Sellafield and who had been identified by Professor Gardner. This is referred to in this report as the case-only study. The intention was to see if any obvious common factors emerged which provided grounds for immediate action by HSE to protect further the health and safety of workers. The data used were the preconception external radiation dose} records, biological monitoring records, the occupational history records showing where each father worked and when, and records of radiological incidents. Potential exposure to selected chemicals was inferred from the above data. The second part, referred to as the radiation dose study, was aimed at comparing the radiation dose histories of each of the case fathers with those of all other male Sellafield radiation workers of the same age as the case fathers when the children were conceived, ie, if a case father were aged, say, 25 at the time of conception, his total radiation dose was compared with that of all other male workers up to the time The terms external radiation and internal radiation are defined in the Glossary. In this report the term preconception external radiation dose is generally abbreviated to radiation dose, unless the context requires otherwise.