BBC-Chernobyl Affected Swedish Children
[WORDS]
♧ Swedish : a. 스웨덴의, 스웨덴 사람의
♧ academic : a. 학문적인, 학구적인
♧ womb : n. 자궁
♧ fetus : n. 임신 9주 후의 태아
♧ susceptible to A : A에 취약한, 무른
♧ radiation : n. 방사, 방사선
♧ fallout : n. 방사성 낙진
♧ fare ill[well] : 고된[편한] 생활을 하다; 잘못[잘]되다; 운이 나쁘다[좋다],
♧ natural background radiation : n. 자연 방사능
♧ impair : v. (기능 등에) 손상을 입히다
♧ David Brenner
♧ oncology : n. 종양학(腫瘍學)
♧ adjacent : a. 인접한, 근접한
♧ verify : v. 검증/입증하다
The researchers studied the school results of more than 560,000 Swedish children born between 1983 and 1988. They found that academic performance was generally weaker in all those children who were in the womb at the precise time of the accident.
Results were the weakest among those children who were foetuses between eight and twenty-five weeks at the time of the explosion. This period, the researchers argue, is the peak period of brain development in the unborn child when brain cells may be at their most susceptible to low radiation. Children born in regions of Sweden which received the most fallout from Chernobyl were also seen to fare worse academically.
The results are controversial. Radiation levels recorded at the time of the accident in Sweden were relatively low - about twice the level of natural background radiation - and it's been thought up until now that such levels were not high enough to impair mental development. Responding to the research, David Brenner, a professor of radiation oncology at Columbia University, New York, said further studies of children in adjacent countries were needed to verify the findings.