Study links sickness to Russian launch site

摘要

Rocket launches in Kazakhstan are causing serious illness among people who live near the take-off site, according to an unpublished study seen by Nature. The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the launch pad for many missions to the International Space Station. But highly toxic fuel from spent rocket stages falls on to the sparsely populated regions close to cosmodrome, where it causes serious health problems, say researchers from Vector, the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk. The level of some diseases, such as endocrine and blood disorders, in polluted areas is more than twice the regional average, they say.