RE: [cdn-nucl-l] Nuke plants hike cancer risk (?)

According to the Canadian Cancer Society in their document, Canadian Cancer Statistics 2005 (1,001 kB), cancer mortality rates in all provinces are close to the national average. The national average mortality rate from cancer is 224 and 148 cancer deaths (per year, per 100,000 people), for males and females respectively. The provincial cancer incidence rates are also close to the national average - 468 and 345 cancer cases, for males and females respectively).

For the province of Quebec, the cancer mortality rate is 256 and 158 for males and females respectively, and the cancer incidence rate is 482 and 350 for males and females respectively. Quebec cancer rates are slightly higher than the national rates; this is due almost entirely to the high rates of lung cancer in Quebec, caused by the continuing high popularity of cigarette smoking relative to other provinces. The rates of all other cancer types in Quebec are virtually identical - and in some cases lower - than the national average.

Within the Province of Quebec, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux provides regional cancer statistics in its Fichier des tumeurs du Québec. The Répartition géographique page provides the following cancer incidence data (combined male-female, selected examples, cancers per year per 100,000 people) :

Average for all of Quebec: 432.6
Mauricie and Quebec Centre, including area surrounding G-2 : 433.7
Quebec City : 438.0
Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean: 457.9
Gaspesie: 501.1
Montreal: 417.6
Nunavik: 781.7
Laurentides: 468.8
Abitibi - Temiscamingue: 475.7

Finally, there is the report submitted to the public hearings of Quebec's Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement ( BAPE) by the Régie Régionale de la Santé et des Services Sociaux de la Mauricie et du Centre-du-Québec, " Incidence et mortalité pour certains cancers du territoire entourant la centrale de Gentilly-2, 1994-1998, 29 mai 2003, 7 pages."

According to this report, female residents of the municipalities neighbouring Gentilly-2 "distinguish themselves by a lower rate of new cancers relative to Quebec as a whole (345 cases versus 371 cases). With regards to specific cancer types, female residents of the municipalities have a lower incidence of lung cancer (39 versus 47) and breast cancer (98 versus 111). No other significant difference was observed relative to Quebec as a whole. As for the male residents of the municipalities, their cancer rates are not significantly different from those of Quebec as a whole."
(translated from the original French report).

From the above data, there is no suggestion that cancer rates in Quebec as a whole, or in the region surrounding Gentilly-2, are related to the nuclear plant.