Is the human sex odds at birth distorted in the vicinity of nuclear facilities (NF)? A preliminary geo-spatial-temporal approch

Abstract

The trend in the human sex odds at birth in Europe was significantly distorted after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident (ChNPP), and childhood cancers are significantly increased in the vicinity of German nuclear power plants (NPP). Therefore, the question arises whether the human sex odds at birth is also distorted in the vicinity of nuclear reactors and nuclear storage or processing facilities (NF). In this paper we investigate the feasibility of an ecological study based on official gender specific annual birth data of all municipalities of Belgium, Switzerland, and the following parts of Germany: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Rhineland-Palatinate. The analyses involve 316 360 municipality- or district-years, with 22 643 476 live births and an overall sex odds (SO = male live births/female live births) of 1.0546. During the operation time periods of the ascertained 28 NF in Germany and Switzerland, lagging for gestation period, and within 5 km distance from these sites, there is a non-significantly increased sex odds with a sex odds ratio (SOR) vs. the remainder of the study region and non-operational time periods of SOR5km = 1.0056, p = 0.3615. However, within the distances of 15 km, 30 km, and 50 km, we may observe more precisely estimated elevated sex odds ratios: SOR15km = 1.0040, p = 0.0463, SOR30km = 1.0035, p = 0.0026, and SOR50km = 1.0017, p = 0.0567. A significant Rayleigh function (p=0.0023) with mode at 14.4 km, 95%-CI = [10.9 km, 29.3 km], yields a SORpeak = 1.0051. Moreover, there is a reciprocal distance association (1/r) of the sex odds beyond 10 km distance from NF, p = 0.0016. Therefore, evidence of a far-reaching genetic effect in the vicinity of 28 NF in Germany and in Switzerland is achieved. Further studies in this important area of environmental health research are recommended.