by the worlds’ worst nuclear accident, are suffering more from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than other children, according to a study obtained by BosNewsLife Saturday, August 28, ahead of publication in a major medical journal.
But researchers at the Haifa based Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel’s leading science and technology university, found that "the cause of the ADHD lies not in the radiation exposure itself" during the tragedy of 1986, but "from a heightened level of anxiety transferred to these children by their mothers."
The institute stressed that "especially those who were pregnant at the time” of the explosion at the nuclear power plant, “showed inaccurate preconceptions about the physical and mental-health risks of radiation exposure." (The mothers) "sought extensive health care for what they feared would be long-term illnesses."
ADHD is a condition that becomes apparent in some children in the preschool and early school years. It is hard for these children to control their behavior and/or pay attention. Between 3 and 5 percent of children have ADHD, or about 2 million children in the United States, the U.S.-based National Institute of Mental Health estimates.
CONTRADICTING STUDIES
The Israeli study, to be published August 30 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, also concluded that exposure to radiation does not affect children’s intellectual capabilities, contradicting research among survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan at the end of World War Two.
"There were no significant differences between the scores of children (from Chernobyl) with high radiation exposure levels when compared with those who had moderate or very low exposure levels," the researchers said.
"These findings contradict those from studies of survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which showed that fetal exposure to high doses of radiation increased the risk of mental retardation, small head size, subsequent seizures, and poor performance on conventional tests of intelligence."
INTELLIGENCE NOT AFFECTED
Using "a battery of non-language-dependent tests," the researchers found no relationship between the children’s intelligence scores and their radiation exposure level. "Children with higher levels of radiation exposure showed no significant differences in intellectual or neurophysical functioning when compared to those who had little or no exposure," explained researcher Dr. Gad Rennert of the Technion Faculty of Medicine in a statement seen by BosNewsLife. "This resulting anxiety could have been transferred to the children," Rennert added.
While physical manifestations of radiation exposure – such as a higher incidence of thyroid cancer among exposed children – have been documented, the researchers claimed there was "no differences in cognitive and neurofunctioning of exposed children when compared to those from non-contaminated areas."
The study was carried out among 1,629 children who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union between 1989 and 2000. 667 (41%) of these children were from areas with high radiation exposure, and 408 (24%) from regions with low radiation exposure. 554 (34%) children were from non-contaminated areas. All were in-utero or up to 14 years of age at the time of the accident, the researchers claimed.
Experts have documented an 80-fold increase in cancers in Belarus and Ukraine, and say millions of people, including 1.26 million children, have been affected by the Chernobyl disaster. Thousands of people are believed to have died during, and in the aftermath, of the tragedy. With author Stefan J. Bos
