Genetic Damage From Chernobyl Not Passed From Parents To Children - US Health Agency

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2021) A landmark study by international researchers showed that genetic damage from radiation released during the 1986 Chernobyl reactor meltdown is not inherited by children from exposed parents, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said.

"The findings, published around the 35th anniversary of the disaster, are from international teams of investigators led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute," the NIH said in a press release on Thursday. "The studies were published online in Science on April 22."

The study, which used advanced genome sequencing technology not available until recently, "found no evidence that radiation exposure to parents resulted in new genetic changes being passed from parent to child," the release said.

Researchers analyzed the complete genomes of 130 people born between 1987 and 2002 and their 105 mother-father pairs to determine whether radiation exposure results in genetic changes that can be passed from parent to child - a danger suggested by some animal studies, the release added.

A second study, also published on Thursday, found genetic changes in the tumors of people who developed thyroid cancer after being exposed as children or as fetuses to radiation released by the nuclear accident, according to the release.