Published: April 26, 2007
Burnham-On-Sea cancer cluster 'linked to Hinkley Point'

A row has broken out over claims that an unexpected cluster of cancer cases in Burnham-On-Sea may be connected to Hinkley Point nuclear power station.

Anti-nuclear campaigners this week claimed the death rate from breast cancer in one part of Burnham-On-Sea is 70 per cent above the national average for the 10 years to 2005.

Local health chiefs have dismissed the findings as a statistical blip and say there is no reason to be concerned about a health risk from the plant.

Dr Chris Busby, from consultancy Green Audit, who was commissioned by the campaign group Stop Hinkley, analysed figures from the Office of National Statistics and found that in the Burnham North electoral ward 41 deaths from breast cancer were recorded in 1995-2005, while he would have expected only 24 for the size of population.

Dr Busby has also started investigating the infant mortality rate in the area around Hinkley and says his study shows clear evidence of a cancer cluster.

Dr Busby said: "This clearly shows that the breast cancer cluster in Burnham North is a convincing phenomenon and is clearly, in my opinion, related to releases or a release from Hinkley Point. Since radiation causes cancer through mutation we might expect some effect on infant mortality in the area around Hinkley Point and we are now looking to see if that is the case in a study covering West, Mid and North Somerset."

Jim Duffy, spokesman for Stop Hinkley, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "The figures speak for themselves and all sorts of white-washing have not stood up to reasoned examination."

But a spokesman for Somerset Primary Care Trust said: "Health advisors note Stop Hinkley campaigners' renewed assertion that mortality statistics for breast cancer in the Burnham North ward over the last 10 years appear to be higher than the national average."

"Such statistical anomalies are known to occur and also occur in other parts of Somerset, which are nowhere near Hinkley Point."

"It therefore would be misleading to suggest that published statistics indicate an increased risk to health for residents living in the Burnham area."

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