Iarc-coordinated study of cancer incidence following the Chernobyl accident

Making use of exposure estimates and observation on groups who have been followed up following radiation exposure, several national and international bodies have made predictions of the excess number of cancer cases which are expected to arise in Europe as a consequence of the Chernobyl accident. The general consensus has been that, for most European populations, the excess would be of a very small magnitude and unlikely to be detectable above background and that, consequently, implementation of special cancer studies could not be justified. Why, therefore, carriyng out this registry-based study. While wide use of cancer registries has been made in studying past trends in risk, this study probably represents the first situation where registries have undertaken to prospectively monitor future trends in relation to a specific exposure. As such, it provides a model for future co-operation among existing cancer registries in projects of this kind, and should serve to encourage the establishment of routine cancer registration where it does not yet exist