X-rays can cause childhood leukemia

(NaturalNews) New findings by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health reveal that X-rays can significantly increase children's risk of developing leukemia. Having even one X-ray, they say, can moderately increase the risk of developing certain kinds of leukemia, calling into question the overall safety of X-rays.

Discovered as part of the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study (NCCLS), a population-based case-control study taking place in 35 counties in California, the findings shed new light on how continual exposure to even low-dose radiation can spur the development of harmful cancers. Previously, most experts just assumed that X-rays were fairly safe.

"The general clinical impression has been that the level of radiation a child would be exposed to today from a conventional X-rays would not confer an additional risk for cancer," said Patricia Buffler, professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley and principal investigator of the NCCLS. "The results of our study were not what we expected."

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