314 



STATEMENT OF DR. SVEN EBBESON, INSTITUTE OF MARINE 

 SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS, AND 

 CODIRECTOR, ALASKAN-SIBERIAN MEDICAL RESEARCH 

 PROGRAM 



Dr. Ebbeson. I'm the Co-Director of the Alaska-Siberia Medical 

 Research Program. And my counterpart in Russia is my neighbor 

 here, Academician Trufakin. And he will comment 



Senator Murkowski. You are going to have to speak right into 

 the microphones. I don't want anybody in the back row to be sleep- 

 ing back there. 



Dr. Ebberson. Concerns about alleged extensive pollution of ra- 

 dioactive substances in Siberia has led Dr. Trufakin and me to look 

 into the matter as it relates to human heedth. We have obtained 

 some prelimingiry information through a number of sources, espe- 

 cially the Minister of Health in Yakutia, Dr. Boris Yegerov. Within 

 Siberia are nmnerous regions with levels of radiation dangerous to 

 man and that within these regions increases in certain cancers and 

 malformation of newborn have been observed during the last 20 

 years. For example, in one contaminated region, deaths from can- 

 cer in children have increased 18 times in the last 10 years. As an 

 example of some of the available data that we are presenting to the 

 Committee, we have learned that certain rivers such as Yenisey 

 River contain such radioactive pollutants as plutonium, tritium, ce- 

 sium- 13 7 below a certain reactor plant, and that fish in this river 

 contain such radionuclides as phosphorous-32, zinc-65, cesium-137, 

 and closest to the plant, just below the plant, sodium-24. Such con- 

 taminated fish have been found along the entire length of the 1,000 

 mile river. Contaminated fish are consumed by the local popu- 

 lation, apparently because they don't know it's contaminated. 



As to such pollution entering the food chain in the Arctic Ocean 

 and the Bering Sea, we have no data nor are we in the position 

 to predict such pollution at this time. We have obtained some spe- 

 cific data about location of some radioactive sources and quantities 

 in a few regions of Siberia and data on the apparent correlation 

 with increased health problems. These details are part of the report 

 to this Committee. We must stress one, that we cannot say if we're 

 dealing with a cause and effect, and two, that the data must be re- 

 garded as prehminEiry only. We have very httle information in rela- 

 tion to the enormity of the problem. 



There is no doubt that the health officials in Siberia are con- 

 cerned about what appears to them as a serious health problem. 

 Much additional data have to be collected before the extent of the 

 hazard can be determined and what populations are at risk. 



The University of Alaska already directs an active health re- 

 search program in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Medi- 

 cal Science. A successful relationship has been enjoyed by the Alas- 

 ka-Siberia Medical Research Program since 1988, when it was ini- 

 tiated by Dr. O'Dowd and Dr. Ted Mala. The major foci of the pro- 

 gram have been the investigation of lifestyle £ind nutritional factors 

 and their impact on diabetes and heart disease in native popu- 

 lations in Siberia and Alaska; seasonal depression, alcohol, cold ad- 

 aptation. We have also some epidemiological and cancer studies un- 

 derway. The current program enUsts expertise from elsewhere in 

 the United States. 



