THREE-GENERATION STUDY OF POPULATION LIVING IN THE VICINITY OF THE SEMIPALATINSK NUCLEAR TEST-SITE - BIOSAMPLE DATABASE AND POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

During the period between 1949 and 1989 nuclear weapons testing carried out at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (STS) in Kazakhstan resulted in local fallout affecting the residents living in the vicinity of the STS. The STS has been the site for more than 450 nuclear tests and more than 1,5 million people were repeatedly exposed to ionizing radiation. In order to gain information on the magnitude of radiation exposure and genetic risk caused by protracted exposure to ionising radiation, a cohort of people exposed to the nuclear test fallout was studied. The villages included in the study are situated along the trail from the first Soviet surface nuclear test in August 1949 and another three surface explosions, which together contributed up to 85% of the collective effective dose to population. Members of 40 three-generation families, comprising 361 individuals, were selected according to preset criteria, interviewed and sampled. A matched control group of 250 persons from a noncontaminated district in South Kazakhstan was also studied. Here we describe the collection of the samples for a bio-sample database with an accompanying registry of background information on the study subjects and present the comparison of demographic data for the exposed and control population.