Epidemiological Studies for the Assessment of Risks from Environmental Radiation on Tundra Nentsi Population

Abstract

We have studied a population of 1200 people of the Tundra Nentsi inhabiting Northwestern Siberia in the immediate proximity to the nuclear test ground Novaya Zemlya. As has been shown, cancer has increased over the last decade, and so too the number of secondary immune deficiency diseases. Chromosome analysis of peripheral blood (N=74) suggests that the overall percentage of chromosomal aberrations in the population is 4.59% (1.5% in the control), while that of “ring” and dicentric“ type aberrations, which are the ”markers“ of radiation damage, is 0.53% (0.05% in the control). We have discovered a unique variant of an immunoglobulin gene structure combined with a small extranumerical chromosome. Total blood analysis has revealed such abnormalities as anemia, leucopenia and deformed erythrocytes in various combinations in 17% of the people examined. Analysis of soils has shown that the content of ’ ¹³⁷Cs in the upper 5 cm layer is 59 Bq/kg and 65 Bq/kg at two locations which is higher than that following the global fall-outs at these latitudes. A correlation has been found between the content of ¹³⁷Cs in lichen and reindeer meat (61 Bq/kg and 62 Bq/kg, respectively). This suggests that the natives, who live largely on reindeer meat, may have been continuously exposed to radiation from inside.