Relationship between the 137Cs whole-body counting results and soil and food contamination in farms near Chernobyl

The authors measured the radioactivity in the soil and child food samples from farms near Mogilev (56--270 GBq km-2137Cs), Gomel (36--810 GBq km-2137Cs), and Klincy (59--270 GBq km-2137Cs), who had whole-body 137Cs counting results measured as part of a health examination in the Chernobyl Sasakawa Health and Medical Cooperation Project. Soil contamination on the family farm seems to be the main source of human contamination because most of the people in the area live on small farms and they and their domestic animals eat crops from the farms. A clear correlation was found between the children's whole-body 137Cs counting results and the radioactivity in their food (correlation coefficient: 0.76; confidence level of correlation: 3.2 x 10-9). There were also significant correlations between the whole-body 137Cs counting results and both the radioactivity of the soil samples (correlation coefficient: 0.22; confidence level of correlation: 0.0107) and the average contamination level of their current residence (correlation coefficient: 0.20; confidence level of correlation: 0.0174)