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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2006;295:2240.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 140 words of the full text and any section headings.

Up to 9000 excess cancer deaths may result from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster among those who worked in the cleanup operation, evacuees, and residents of contaminated regions in Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine, according to a report the WHO released in April (http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/who_chernobyl_report_2006.pdf). The report also noted that about 5000 people who were children and adolescents at the time of the disaster have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and that new cases are likely to be reported in the future.

Some environmental groups say the number of people who will eventually die of cancers caused by exposure to radiation from Chernobyl is likely to be 10 times higher than the WHO estimate. "In reality, the actual number of deaths caused by this accident is unlikely ever to be precisely known," the WHO report said.