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I Friday, January 25,1991 II STUDY: Not a relationship Radiation-cancer link between dose, all cancers among OFXL worws. cient eau m this study LO suggest 3 Uusal rcIauonshlp." said Shirley Fry. one of two epidunioioglsrs J I Oak Ridge Assoclaud Univusiues who worked on the swdv. Fry noud Lhat ORSL workers are ouilc healthy and have a "SUDSUJIU~~ deticit oi deaths due to Bi 1 1 Youngflom Hendri ckson, NE Bob Goldman, EH Jerry Griffith, NE (GTN) This article was in this afternoon's The Oak Ridqer. In addition, the Knoxville office of the Associated Press is expected to carry a story based on a rewrite o f the articles that have already appeared in The Knoxvi 1 1 e News-Sent i ne1 and The Oak Ridqer (copy attached). Otherwise, there have been no additional news media calls today. PLEASE NOTE: The word "not" was omitted, an omission that has been noted by the newspaper which is planning a correction for the next issue.
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PAGE 4 THE OAK RIDGER, OAK RIDGE, TN., THURSDAY,JANUARY 24,1991 , ORNL employees to be b y John Avery Emison Oak Rioger saff Employees at Oak Ridge National Laboratory were to be briefed today on the results of an epidemrological study on the effcrs of radiation. Epidemiologsts at Oak Ridge Associated Univeniues who have coopemcd in rhe study were to tell workers the resulrs ar a 2 4 5 p m meeting. ORAU spokeswoman Susan Barnes said the study - “Monaiity Among Worken at OR%: Evidence of Radiarion Effects in Follow-up Through 1984” - IS scheduled to be published in the March 20 Journal of the ORAU eoidernlologisrs Dn. Shirley Fry and Donna Cragle assisted Dr. Steve Wing from the Univeniry of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who was the pnncipal invesugator. B m e s said the study was undenaken as “pan of our charge from (the She said no deails of the study would be releued unul afEr the affected workers had been bnefed.
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Wi 1ken Jel inek Risk higher than OAK RIDGE - For the first time. researcnes have iinked raalation Jose to the n s k of csncer death among nuclear WOrKers at Oak Riage National Laboratory. Resuiu from a follo\Wp nealth stuav were unveiled Thursaay. The effect was most laenufiable among those employees who the wormlace 20 or more yeaft before their deaths. While the overail death rate among ORNL workers was low and the nsk of car.cer death was lower than rhe U.S. populauon as a wnole, tne iink t o rakauon dose was a signiicmt new tizdmg Donna Cragle. deputy director of The latest work is likely to add more fuel to the ongoing debate over mdauon risks and what amount IS safe. The study of workers a t ORNL found a 5 percent increase in the nsk of death by cancer for every one rem of external radiauon exposure. A rem ISthe equivalent of clear worker swrlards generally have allowed a maximum or five rems per year. The hearth stcdy. a :allow-cp to 3 previous one reieasec in 19SS. was conductea bv ORAU unaer conmc: with the US. Departsearcner was Or. Steve WinR ol the Univemtv cif Nonn Carolma s School of Public i4euh. cancer death races and radiation force was not !ouno rn me pnor study, wnicn was headed by Dr. Harvey Checkoway of Nonh Researchers have oeen studying a group oi 8.313 wnitc males wno worked at ORNL oerween 1943 and 1972 for more than 30 posurE were compared to a ers wno had not received ramt!!e group rnmugt 197. The tats srudy headed by Wirlg analyzed the p u p chrousn 1 9 8 1 Througn 1984. 1,524 deaths bad been recoded in the group. If the nudy had been halted earlter, the raoiaoon/cYlcer Link wouldn't have become apparent, con mug che sums on mto the Although the ORNL study showed a 5 percent increase in the cancer death nsk per rem of radzauon exposure. Cragie m d that figure could change with fuPlease see CANCER page A5 Cragle also noted that the results of the ORNL study only pertan to a relatively smrU group of workers at the Laboratory beContinued from page A1 raoiauon dose and cancer cult LO say it's absolutely 5 percenr per rem. The magnitude we're not sure of. I would personally expect that once we look into dmmetry (how the radlauon doses were rnevured in the early ured to raaiauon in the ORNL sway IS higner than that found among Jaumese survivors of the Cqle sard It IS smlar. however. to me results oi a stuay of atomic woncers m the Umted Kingdom. ture studies. cause most employees dori't reIn addtion to the cancer ofied by the ORAU research. a hation dose, Cngle sard. Cragle said reseuchers expect t o learn more and pmpoint death rates wth spcafic rypcs ofcancer In future nudes of the ORNL workforce. As the $tu~leSprogress and more members of the nuoy group die from vanous causes. the results will become more meanmgful she sard