22 different cancers associated with radiation exposure

There are 22 different cancers associated with radiation exposure, and the most common cancer associated with uranium mining and milling workers is lung cancer. This is most likely because radon and its decay products are primarily airborne and pose the greatest cancer risk of all the radionuclides emitted per the findings of an EPA study.¹⁶⁷ Other studies have indicated that long-term worker exposure to uranium mill tailings is weakly associated with elevated risks for birth defects, stillbirths, and other adverse outcomes of pregnancy; however, the authors stated “a lack of clear evidence for an increase in cancer risk to miners should be reassuring.”¹⁶⁸ A different study conducted in 2008 reviewing multiple papers on the health risks relating to the uranium industry found that the association of worker uranium exposure and cancer “is limited.”169 There are also several studies that have indicated no detectible increases in cancer to populations surrounding uranium mines or mills.^{170 171 172}

While the science could be viewed as inconclusive, mixed, and still evolving, prudence dictates caution. The absence of evidence—in this case an indisputable body of scientific work linking uranium industry to increased cancer rates in the nearby population—should not be construed as evidence of absence. The risk is unambiguously skewed to the downside. As time permits more long-term studies and medical technologies advance scientific understanding, there is an ever-present possibility that heretofore unknown linkages between the uranium industry and a specific illness will be uncovered. (Bold ours - RTR)

p. 85-86, Chmura report