Cancer in the offspring of radiation workers: an investigation of employment timing and a reanalysis using updated dose information.

A case–control study of leukaemia and lymphoma cases occurring between 1950 and 1985 among young persons (under 25 years of age) born and diagnosed in West Cumbria (Gardner et al, 1990; Gardner, 1992) found that paternal preconceptional exposures to external sources of whole–body ionising radiation during employment at the Sellafield nuclear installation were associated with a raised incidence of childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (LNHL) in offspring. No similar associations were found for Hodgkin's disease.