The risk of childhood leukaemia from the radiation exposure of fathers before conception

In November 1983, a television documentary claimed to have found an excess of childhood leukaemia cases in the coastal village of Seascale near the Sellafield nuclear complex in West Cumbria, England. This excess was confirmed by an independent scientific inquiry which consequently recommended that further detailed investigations be carried out. One recommendation was that a case-control study of childhood leukaemia and lymphoma in West Cumbria should be conducted. The most notable finding was a positive statistical association between relatively high radiation doses measured on film badges worn by men employed at Sellafield before the conception of their children and the incidence of leukaemia among these children.