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Radiation-related health hazards to uranium miners

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Abstract

Concerns on health effects from uranium (U) mining still represent a major issue of debate. Any typology of active job in U mines is associated with exposure to U and its decay products, such as radon (Rn), thorium (Th), and radium (Ra) and its decay products with alpha-emission and gamma radiation. Health effects in U miners have been investigated in several cohort studies in the USA, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, and France. While public opinion is particularly addressed to pay attention to the safety of nuclear facilities, health hazard associated with mining is poorly debated. According to the many findings from cohort studies, the most significant positive dose-response relationship was found between occupational U exposure and lung cancer. Other types of tumors associated with occupational U exposure are leukemia and lymphoid cancers. Furthermore, it was found increased but not statistically significant death risk in U miners due to cancers in the liver, stomach, and kidneys. So far, there has not been found a significant association between U exposure and increased cardiovascular mortality in U miners. This review tries to address the current state of the art of these studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Semey Medical University, Semey, Kazakhstan

    Yuliya Semenova, Lyudmila Pivina, Yersin Zhunussov, Marat Zhanaspayev & Zhanna Muzdubayeva

  2. CONEM Kazakhstan Environmental Health and Safety Research Group, Semey Medical University, Semey, Kazakhstan

    Yuliya Semenova & Lyudmila Pivina

  3. Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Salvatore Chirumbolo

  4. CONEM Scientific, Verona, Italy

    Salvatore Chirumbolo

  5. Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM), Toften 24, 8610, Mo i Rana, Norway

    Geir Bjørklund

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Semenova, Y., Pivina, L., Zhunussov, Y. et al. Radiation-related health hazards to uranium miners. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 34808–34822 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09590-7

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