The cancer time bomb facing Scots born during Cold War

Published on Sunday 20 January 2002 00:00

HUNDREDS of thousands of Scots born in the mid-Sixties face a higher risk of developing cancer after being exposed to record levels of nuclear fallout from Cold War atomic tests.

Findings from a covert research project, obtained by Scotland on Sunday, reveal that contamination by the radioactive isotope Strontium 90 from nuclear tests peaked in babies born in 1964.

The alarming findings have raised fears that the 104,355 people born in Scotland that year may face a higher risk of developing cancers of the blood, bone marrow or muscle.

But the hundreds of thousands of Scots born during the 1950s and 1960s will also have been exposed to higher than usual levels of radioactive contamination and are at risk of developing fatal diseases as a result.

Exposure to Strontium 90, which is released in nuclear explosions and stored in the bones in the same way as calcium, can increase the risk of developing leukaemia and sarcoma.

Researchers at Yorkhill children’s hospital in Glasgow tested 2,111 thigh bones from dead babies and children between 1959 and 1970 as part of an international project to discover the threat posed to humans by the testing of nuclear weapons.

Most of the children came from the west of Scotland, while a small number came from Perthshire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Orkney. Scientists found the average concentration of Strontium 90 in children’s bones had reached a level nearly four times the maximum dose many experts consider acceptable for adults.

Some babies and children had Strontium 90 levels far higher than the average and all the bones tested had ‘hot spots’ of contamination which posed an even greater risk, researchers said.

Babies and toddlers up to the age of two were at greatest risk from the radioactive fallout from tests of ‘dirty’ hydrogen bombs during the 1950s and 1960s, the study found. The peak year was found to be 1964, when many children were found to have up to six times the maximum recommended levels of Strontium 90 in their bones.

Children were chosen for the research because their bones grow faster than adults, taking in more of the radioactive element. Glasgow became the main centre for research in the UK because of its high rainfall level, bringing the fallout in the atmosphere to ground level faster.

The findings of the 11-year study, organised by the Medical Research Council and UK Atomic Energy Authority, caused such alarm that they were used to push the case for the introduction of the 1963 Test Ban Treaty - banning the testing of nuclear devices in the atmosphere.

Dr Chris Busby, an independent expert on radiation risk, said: "Exposure of this kind will have already had a consequence in terms of cancer levels and genetic damage to the people involved, and it will still be doing damage.

"People exposed in the 1960s will be coming up to 40 now so they will not be getting their full whack of cancers until they begin to hit 50 or 60.

"There is no safe level of Strontium 90 and while government agencies may try to compare it to natural background levels, it is like the difference between eating a hot coal and warming yourself in front of a fire.

"People exposed in the 1960s should be worried but the sad thing is that it is too late to do anything about it."

A transcript of evidence given to a government expert group currently investigating the ethics of the research, reveals the full extent of the contamination problem in Scotland.

Former pathologist Professor Gavin Arneil, who was involved in the study at Yorkhill, said: "All cow’s milk, and every tin of national dried milk contained Strontium 90. Every mother’s breast milk included Strontium 90.

"All vegetation and all animals were known to be contaminated."

He added: "Our aim was to measure the likely increase in Strontium 90 levels as hydrogen bombs continued to explode and levels approached concentrations at which real concern would be felt.

"This level was reached at the peak in 1964 by the 0-6 month age group."

Doctors had drawn up a plan to limit children’s exposure to Strontium 90. However, because of the secrecy of the research, it was never publicised.

Professor David Hole, of the west of Scotland cancer surveillance unit, has carried out research tracking 600,000 children born between 1959 and 1970 in the west of Scotland up to the age of 20.

Holes said: "The 1964 group had Strontium 90 levels up to six times the background dose.

"We didn’t see any major increase in the high risk 1963 to 1966 group up to the age of 20 but you might expect to see these sorts of cancers until people are in their 50s or 60s. The high risk group are only in their 30s now."

Sue Roff, an expert on the fallout from nuclear weapons tests, based at Dundee University’s centre for medical education, said the significance of the evidence from the 1960s should not be underestimated.

"This evidence caused so much concern that it stopped atmospheric nuclear weapons testing," she said.