Uranium carcinogenicity in humans might depend on the physical and chemical nature of uranium and its isotopic composition: results from pilot epidemiological study of French nuclear workers

Abstract

Our results suggest that uranium carcinogenicity may depend on isotopic composition and solubility of uranium compounds. This study is the first to show the carcinogenic effect of slowly soluble reprocessed uranium on two uranium target organs. This finding is consistent with data from epidemiological and experimental studies on similar compounds but need to be confirmed in the more powerful dose-response analysis.

Does uranium induce circulatory diseases? First results from a French cohort of uranium workers

“…The individual cumulated exposure scores were calculated as the product of frequency, extent of exposure and duration of employment for each job period and each type of exposure and for each of the jobs in the worker's career at the AREVA NC Pierrelatte plant. Details regarding the construction of the JEM and cumulative exposure scores are described in supplementary data, supplement-1 (S1) and previous publications 13 14 18…”

“…Although the analysis of available smoking data (n=345, 12% of the cohort) showed no association with all types of uranium exposures18 (supplementary data, table S2), we examined the effect of smoking in addition to uranium exposure. Since only one CSD death occurred among those who had never smoked, we restricted analysis to smokers (n=260), using the model with binary time-dependent exposure variable and similar adjustment as described above.…”

Mortality from internal and external radiation exposure in a cohort of male German uranium millers, 1946–2008

“…this should also be the case for the time after 1963, because exposure assessments were based on indirect air measurements in the working processes and not on individual measurements via bioassay or personal dosimeter. Epidemiological and experimental studies (guseva canu et al 2011;Souidi et al 2009) indicate that different uranium compounds may involve different health effects. Unfortunately, presently, it is not possible to assign specific facilities and years information on the solubility of the corresponding uranium compounds, because very often several processing methods were used in parallel.…”

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF AFRAMOMUM MELEGUETA ON Γ-Radiation-Induced LIVER DAMAGE IN MALE WISTAR RATS

“…The adverse effects of radon, uranium on miners, especially with reference to lung cancer, lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue malignancies are well documented in the literature [1,2]. Also, a lot of interest has been generated worldwide in the area of radioprotection for the first responders whenever they are on the site emergencies.…”