New Studies Show Cancer, Nuclear Plant Correlation

New Studies Show Cancer, Nuclear Plant Correlation

By Nicholas Clunn
Manahawkin Bureau
Asbury Park Press
12-6-4


Scientists should dedicate more time to studying the connection between nuclear power plants and cancer, according to authors of two recently released studies.

The authors, working independently, indicated a positive correlation between radiation and cancer, but tempered their findings, citing that data collected lacked statistical significance.

The results were released as many plant owners throughout the country consider whether to seek permission to extend the lives of their reactors by 20 years.

Federal regulators have already renewed operating licenses for 30 reactors and expect to consider 38 more applications within the next six years, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry advocacy group. Officials from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey will submit the plant's application for another 20 years in July 2005.

"Because of the continuing debate over Oyster Creek's future and the future of other aging plants in the Northeast, it's critical to know as much as possible before any decisions are made about what to do," said Joseph Mangano, national coordinator of the Pennsylvania-based Radiation and Public Health Project, an independent research group.

The health project, in a state-funded study finished last month, linked cancer with strontium-90, a cancer-causing isotope released from reactors.

Also last month, a leading radiation journal published a Columbia University study associating higher doses of radiation with increased risk of leukemia and other kinds of cancer.

But the Columbia study, conducted by the college's Mailman School of Public Health, also found that people working for commercial reactors are 60 percent less likely to die from cancer than those with jobs elsewhere.

Epidemiologists with the university cited policies requiring on-the-job wellness and annual medical check-ups as a major reason behind their finding. The study tracked 53,000 workers at 52 plants for periods up to 18 years between 1979 and 1997.

Mangano and other researchers at the health project, meanwhile, found higher than normal levels of strontium-90 in the teeth of Ocean County children with cancer.

The health project tested 52 baby teeth, not enough for the study to be considered statistically significant, said Mangano, who hopes benefactors will see the "good start" and support additional studies.

"In a nut shell, more teeth would be very helpful in making this significant," he said.

A $25,000 grant requested by the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, a state agency, funded the study. It was the first time the state backed the health project. Mangano mailed the study to the institute three weeks ago, but he has not received a reply.

About a month after the state mailed its first check to the health project in December 2003, a top radiation protection official, in a letter to former Gov. James E. McGreevey, expressed serious concerns about the group's legitimacy.

The health project is best known for the Tooth Fairy Project, which linked cancer deaths in counties around nuclear power plants -- Monmouth and Ocean included -- and levels of strontium-90. Actor Alec Baldwin and supermodel Christie Brinkley helped publicize the study when the research group came to Toms River to announce its results in May 2000.

Those results convinced Brick resident Janet Tauro to oppose license renewal at Oyster Creek. She later recruited Brick Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, who today is among the plant's toughest critics.

"Those were the figures that jumped out at me and prompted me to get involved," Tauro said.

The health project's day-to-day business now operates out of Mangano's home in Norristown, Pa., where he lives with his newlywed wife, Susan. When he moved there from his Brooklyn apartment earlier this year, Mangano took with him a collection of 3,000 teeth that he plans to study.

The molars, incisors and cuspids are now stored in the same closet as the bride's dress, Mangano said.

Published in the Asbury Park Press

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