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A Program for Pediatric Excellence
A CANCER REGISTRY FOR THE INFANTS AND CHILDREN OF BELARUS
For ten days following the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Power Plant, the northerly winds carried an unprecedented amount of radioactivity over an unknowing population in Belarus. Over 70% of the radioactivity from this "nuclear fire" found its way into the soil, water, air, plants, animals and citizens of Belarus. The result was 1.5 million people exposed to significant radiation, 160,000 of whom were young children.
Children are especially susceptible to the hazards of even small amounts of radiation. A child's play, especially outdoors, further intensifies their environmental exposure. Previous studies of populations exposed to radiation have shown that the risk of cancer is greater for those less than 20 years old at exposure. With a longer life before them, children are more likely to develop more of the long-delayed problems associated with radiation. In Belarus, so far, thyroid cancer in children has increased over 200-fold and an estimated 20,000 remain at high risk for developing cancer in the future. Children who were less than 4 years of age at the time of the accident seem to be at highest risk.
In addition to increasing the risk of getting thyroid cancer, the radiation from Chernobyl appears to cause cancers which are more aggressive than spontaneous or typical thyroid cancer. There is now an urgent need to study not only the incidence or rate of childhood cancers in Belarus, but also the course of the disease after diagnosis. If we are to prevent additional suffering, we must find those children at increased risk and learn as much as possible about the cancers that afflict them.
What Can Be Done
Until recently, accurate, comprehensive information about childhood cancer in Belarus was not available. With help from the Belarus-American Child Health Foundation, a computer-based Childhood Cancer Registry was established in Minsk in 1996. A summary of all pediatric cancers diagnosed from 1978 to 1994 has already been compiled from state maintained records and is being published. This report is the first comprehensive analysis of childhood cancer from the contaminated regions. The records are also being carefully analyzed for completeness and accuracy.
The Belarusian Childhood Cancer Registry is a unique source of important information, unmatched by any other data base in the world. It has confirmed the increase in thyroid cancer in Belarus and has identified a possible increase in childhood brain tumors, which must be studied further before any conclusions can be reached. The Registry will also track the severity of disease and survival after diagnosis, so the behavior of childhood cancer in Belarus can be studied. Tracking cases and their response to treatment will enable additional research and aid to be directed to the areas where they are most needed. Solutions to the problems of radiation-related cancers can only come if the problems are identified. With your help, the Childhood Cancer Registry of Belarus can be a critical source for that information.
Financial support to continue the Childhood Cancer Registry of Belarus is urgently needed if exposed children are to regain the health that all children deserve. Support for these programs will provide pediatric physicians and nurses the tools they need to diagnose, treat and follow children afflicted by the effects of radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Through your support, pediatric specialists from the US and Belarus can work to make modern cancer care available for those many children still in need.
The Belarus-American Child Health Foundation is a publicly funded, non-profit charitable organization. Donations are tax deductible. The Foundation is supported by grants from private foundations, corporations, government agencies and individuals dedicated to the good health of children in the world.
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