Dr. Robert Day was appointed the Scientific Director for the International Consortium for Research on the Health Effects of Radiation (“Consortium”) in 1999. The United States Navy, with Congressional concurrence, established the Consortium in 1993 to study the health effects of long-term, low-dose ionizing radiation. The Consortium grew out of discussions between United States and former Soviet Union (FSU) scientists regarding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster accident that occurred on April 26, 1986. As its first effort, the Consortium initiated a feasibility study in the early 1990s to establish scientific collaborations with FSU investigators and verify the potential for undertaking scientifically meaningful, collaborative, long-term investigations of the effects of radiation exposures on populations exposed from the Chernobyl accident.
From the feasibility studies emerged two Consortium studies that are nearing completion: (1) a leukemia case-control study (2 controls per case) in children 0-6 years old at the time of the accident (ATA); (2) a thyroid case-control study (2 controls per case) of children 0-20 years ATA.
The leukemia case-control study focuses on the most heavily contaminated populations of the FSU, those residing in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine ATA. Leukemia diagnoses have been confirmed by an external committee. Doses have been reconstructed based on both individual and external factors. The thyroid case-control studies examined residents of Bryansk Oblast in Russia who were 0-20 years old ATA. The results of both studies should be available for publication in late spring 2002.
The principal investigators on the Chernobyl Studies are:
Belarus
Martin Mahoney, MD, and Karen Falkner, PhD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Vladimir Ostapekno, MD, Director, Belarus Ministry of Health
Russia
Scott Davis, PhD, and Kenneth J. Kopecky, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Valery Stepanenko, PhD, Medical Radiological Research Center, Obninsk
Nikolay Rivkind, MD, Regional Diagnostic Center, Bryansk
Ukraine
Arthur Michalek, PhD, and Kirsten Moysich, PhD, Consortium Associate Scientific Director, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Alexandra Bondar, MD, National University of Ukraine, Kiev
In addition to the current leukemia and thyroid studies, the Consortium is currently developing (at the request of the US Navy) a prototype response plan to deal with the aftermath of a potential radiation-related (marrow-toxic) catastrophe, whether military, accidental, or as a result of terrorism. The primary focus of the plan is how to track those who have been exposed, how to measure doses, and the long-term term implications for the populations at risk.
Future studies in the area of post-traumatic stress indicators for the Chernobyl population are planned, development and enhancement of FSU cancer registries to establish a credible source of information for research purposes, planning of medical care in the FSU, and biological dosimetry effects from Chernobyl.
