CANCER MORTALITY AMONG TECHA RIVER RESIDENTS AND THEIR OFFSPRING

This paper analyzes the data on leukemia and solid cancers of all type s among 28,000 people exposed due to discharges of radioactive waste i nto the Techa River in the South Urals, Cancer mortality rates for the 33-y period since the beginning of the exposure have been estimated, In addition, the paper discusses malignancy cases among the first gene ration offspring of the exposed people. In comparison with matched con trol groups, an increased incidence of malignant neoplasms was observe d among the exposed population, The leukemia risk, estimated on the ba sis of the linear model of absolute risk, was 0.85 per 10, 000 person- y Gy of the dose accumulated in red bone marrow, Solid cancer risk (ex cept osteosarcoma), estimated using linear model of relative risk, was 0.65 per Gy of dose accumulated in soft tissues, No increase in cance r mortality has been documented for the offspring of the exposed indiv iduals.