Radioactivity in human tissues

The radioactivity in human tissues (lungs) obtained from the dead body of people who died by lung cancer in the region of Ptolemais, Northern Greece, where 16 units of 4 major coal-fired power plants are in operation, was studied. The specific activities of radioactive nuclides searched for in human tissues were not remarkable. the syndrome of lung cancer deaths at that area which showed an increase of 60% in the decade of 1981-90 as compared with that of the decade of 1971-80 might not be attributed to the escaping radioactivity from the coal-fired power plants into environment but in other reasons, as for example to various effluents in gaseous and or particulate form, which are the main pollutants discharged during the normal operation of the plants. (Author)