IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i15p8186-d607131.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cancer Incidence of Finnish Sami in the Light of Exposure to Radioactive Fallout

Author

Listed:
  • Leena Soininen

    (Arctic Centre, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland)

  • Helena Mussalo-Rauhamaa

    (Institute of Clinicum, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

This article summarizes the results of studies on the exposure of the Finnish Sami people to radioactive fallout and the estimations of the related cancer risk. We also discuss the lifestyle, genetic origin and diet of this population. The Sami people are an indigenous people who live in the northern part of Scandinavia and Finland. The review is based on the available scientific literature of Finnish Sami. The traditional Sami diet, high in animal products, persists in Sami groups still involved in reindeer-herding, but others have adopted the typical diet of western cultures. Studies have consistently shown an overall reduced cancer risk among the Finnish Sami people, except for stomach cancer among the Skolt Sami. Common cancers among the Finnish main population, such as prostate, breast and skin cancer are especially rare among the Finnish Sami. The incidence of cancer among the Finnish Sami are mostly similar to those of the Swedish and Norwegian Sami. To conclude, we observed no effect of radioactive pollution on cancer incidence. The lifestyles and environments of the Sami are changing, and their cancer mortality rate today is similar to that of the majority of the Finnish and western population.

Suggested Citation

  • Leena Soininen & Helena Mussalo-Rauhamaa, 2021. "Cancer Incidence of Finnish Sami in the Light of Exposure to Radioactive Fallout," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8186-:d:607131
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8186/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8186/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poikolainen, Kari & Näyhä, Simo & Hassi, Juhani, 1992. "Alcohol consumption among male reindeer herders of lappish and finnish origin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 735-738, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susanna Salminen-Paatero & Jussi Paatero, 2021. "Transfer of Natural Radionuclides in Terrestrial Food Chains—A Review of Investigations in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8186-:d:607131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.