Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in Belarus

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Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in Belarus Rebecca Newiss

Biology Coursework 11O2

Belarus is a region just north of the Ukraine in an area that was previously part of the Soviet Union. In 1986 the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl suffered a serious incident involving a fire and the release of significant amounts of radioactivity. The Gomel region lies immediately to the north of Chernobyl and is known to have received a high level of radioactivity as fallout after the breakdown of the reactor on 26th April 1986. The plume passed first over the Gomel region in the first few hours after a major release of radioactivity, and then over the Brest and Grodno regions. The fall out contained large amounts of iodine - 131. The 'cloud' of radioactivity then moved west over Northern Europe and eventually the U.K. The incidence of thyroid cancers has been monitored in many of town s in Belarus that the town passed over. Here were their findings.

Town

Years

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992*

Total

Brest

0

0

1

1

6

5