On protecting the inexperienced reader from Chernobyl myths

Journal of Radiological Protection : Official Journal of the Society for Radiological Protection
M I Balonov

Abstract

The health and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident continue to attract the attention of experts, decision-makers and the general public, and now these consequences have been given added relevance by the similar accident in 2011 at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan. Expert analysis of radiation levels and effects has been conducted by international bodies--UNSCEAR in 2008 and the Chernobyl Forum during 2003-5. At the same time, three Russian and Belarusian scientists, Yablokov, Nesterenko and Nesterenko (2009 Chernobyl. Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)) published both in Russian and English a substantial review of the consequences of Chernobyl based mostly on Russian-language papers. In this book, they suggested a departure from analytical epidemiological studies in favour of ecological ones. This erroneous approach resulted in the overestimation of the number of accident victims by more than 800 000 deaths during 1987-2004. This paper investigates the mistakes in methodology made by Yablokov et al and concludes that these errors led to a clear exaggeration of radiation-induced health effects. Should similar mis...Continue Reading

References

Oct 25, 2003·BMJ : British Medical Journal·Tamara MenDavid Zaridze
Feb 23, 2007·Radiation Protection Dosimetry·P HillV B Nesterenko
Jul 20, 2010·Radiation and Environmental Biophysics·Sergei V Jargin

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Citations

Aug 7, 2013·International Journal of Epidemiology·Mati RahuJoseph Ribak
May 21, 2013·European Journal of Cancer : Official Journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)·Kaja RahuMati Rahu
Jun 17, 2015·International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation·Alison Rosamund Katz
Apr 11, 2019·Journal of Radiological Protection : Official Journal of the Society for Radiological Protection·Jim Smith
Sep 14, 2019·Journal of Radiological Protection : Official Journal of the Society for Radiological Protection·Richard Wakeford
Sep 29, 2018·Dose-response : a Publication of International Hormesis Society·Alexander VaisermanYehoshua Socol

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