The risk of childhood leukaemia with preconceptual exposure to ionising radiation

Abstract The purpose of this article is to review the current literature on the association between parental irradiation and an excess risk of childhood leukaemia. The risk of childhood leukaemia resulting from paternal pre-conceptional radiation exposure found among children from the Sellafield workforce is compared with the risk in a number of other epidemiological studies. Specifically, the extent of a cluster of leukaemia cases in Seascale is incompatible with: parental exposure risks of other offspring of workers in Scottish, Canadian, French and other English nuclear stations; data collected from Japanese bomb survivors; available information following the Chernobyl accident. It is also proposed that the Sellafield hypothesis is in conflict with what is known regarding familial pattern of childhood leukaemia and the level of radiation dose necessary to increase mutation rates. It is concluded that the original association found by Gardner has been confined to children in Seascale and is largely inconsistent with other scientific evidence.