EKN cancers in the aces environment no coincidence

Increased cancer rate in the Asse region

EKN: Cancers in the environment of the ailing nuclear waste storage aces no coincidence

17.12.2010

In contrast to the Federal Environment Ministry, the Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony (EKN) comes to the conclusion that the increased number of cancers in the integrated municipality of Asse can not be a coincidence. The fact that the numerous leukemia and thyroid cancer diseases were actually triggered, will now be clarified in the context of a comprehensive investigation.

Cancer patients in the aces environment are examined in detail
The Wolfenbüttel district administrator Jörg Röhmann (SPD) has announced following the second meeting of the Asse working group that all cancer patients in the integrated municipality of Asse will receive a questionnaire in the coming days to discuss the factors responsible for the increased number of cancer cases in the Environment of the nuclear waste disposal site Asse. Every cancer patient from the community who has registered or has reported to the authorities should, for example, use the questionnaire to provide information about his or her jobs, previous places of residence, age, tobacco and alcohol consumption as well as cancer cases in the family. In addition, those affected will then also be interviewed in detail again to their diseases, said the district administrator Jörg Röhmann (SPD). The EKN had recently announced that the number of cases of leukemia between 2002 and 2009 in the integrated municipality of Asse was twice as high and the number of cases of thyroid cancer three times higher than the statistical average. In addition to exposure to radiation, the EKN believes that, for example, intensive agriculture, the landfill of a chemical company or the Buschhaus lignite-fired power station could trigger significantly higher numbers of leukemia and thyroid cancer diseases. In order to determine the causes of cancer, each individual cancer patient in the integrated municipality of Asse should therefore be examined in detail, explained Jörg Röhmann.

Notification required for cancer
The health department of Wolfenbüttel district has so far reported a total of 80 cancer patients, which are now to be investigated as part of the evaluation, according to the Wolfenbüttel district administrator. In the other counties around the dilapidated atomic waste stock Asse, however, in the evaluation of the numbers of the cancer registry from the years 2002 to 2009, no conspicuous increase in the number of cancers was observed „a bit easier“ Röhmann explained. Although, for example, in the integrated municipality of Oderwald, south of the Asse region, the number of leukemia cases is also higher, but this is not statistically significant, according to the State Health Office. In order to improve the data and to be able to detect such accumulations of cancers in a region early on, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Health thinks about a general reporting obligation for cancer, according to the EKN. So far, only about 50 percent of cancer diagnoses would actually be recorded. In the future, the EKN intends to carry out the evaluation of cancer cases nationwide in all communities of Lower Saxony.

Federal Office for Radiation Protection: Return concept remains unchanged
While the various authorities and the Federal Environment Ministry are still busy with the increased number of cases of cancer, with Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen (CDU) seems extremely anxious to reject any connection with the ailing nuclear waste storage, already reached the next bad news the public. The amount of radioactive liquid in the atomic waste storage Asse has risen sharply and has doubled underground in front of the chamber 8. A spokesman for the Federal Office for Radiation Protection spoke of a „new quality“ of the incident, for the first time coming from the outside access water in contact with a storage chamber for radioactive waste. Critics such as Udo Dettmann of the Asse II coordination group fear that the stored nuclear waste barrels could be dissolved by the moisture and therefore stresses the urgency of the planned retrieval of the nuclear waste from the former salt mine. However, the return concept should be reconsidered, since „in the chambers (...) a mixture of barrels, nuclear waste and contaminated salt“ is located, explained Dettmann. Therefore „It is important to consider whether you also do not work with backhoes instead of grippers alone“, said the member of the Asse II coordination circle. However, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), which has been responsible for the operation and decommissioning of the plant since 1 January 2009, assumes that the plans to remove the barrels do not have to be adjusted despite the increase in radioactive liquid. „The security concept does not have to be tightened, we have already assumed the worst case“, emphasized the spokesman of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection on Wednesday in Salzgitter. (Fp)

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