Leukemia among participants in military maneuvers at a nuclear bomb test. A preliminary report

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Abstract
Preliminary studies indicate that 9 cases of leukemia have occurred among 3224 men who participated in military maneuvers during the 1957 nuclear test explosion ''Smoky''. This represents a significant increase over the expected incidence of 3.5 cases. They included 4 cases of acute myelocytic leukemia, 3 of chronic myelocytic leukemia and 1 each of hairy cell and acute lymphocytic leukemia. At diagnosis, patient ages ranged from 21-60 yr (mean, 41.8 yr) and the interval from time of nuclear test to diagnosis was 2-19 yr (mean, 14.2 yr). Film-badge records, which are available for 8 of the 9 men, indicated radiation exposure levels of 0-2977 mrem (mean, 1033 mrem). Mean film-badge gamma dose for the entire ''Smoky'' cohort was 466.2 mrem.