2024-02-10 01:22:53
The radioactivity and contamination that still prevails in the area of the largest nuclear accident in history, known as Chernobylhas not been an impediment for some animals to continue living and developing in the vicinity of the place.
This is demonstrated by research carried out a decade ago by scientists from the Princeton University (USA), about the gray wolves that inhabit the area and the evolution of the protective and anti-cancer responses that have been shown in studies.
These animals, according to scientists, have developed unique anti-cancer health featuresafter years of adaptation in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (ZEC)a space of about 2200 square km.
Scholars can understand “how natural selection has shaped organisms so that they still survive and reproduce,” allowing them to feel close to achieving “new knowledge to treat this terrible disease”.
“We knew that the wolves in Chernobyl have been there, at this point, for about seven or eight generations. Therefore, They have been exposed throughout their lives to the radioactive effects of the place”, says the researcher in charge of the study, Shane Campbell-Staton.
Together with his team, they focus on testing the hypothesis that “constant exposure to radiation has been a source of natural selection” for the Chernobyl fauna, “focusing on genetic variants in the wolf genome, associated with greater resistance.” to cancer.”
The WHO warned that cancer cases will increase by 77% by 2050
have passed almost 40 years since the terrible explosion of the nuclear plant located in the city of Pripyatand it is still prohibited for people to live there, due to the remains of contamination left by the 100 thousand pounds of radioactive material (45,359 Kg) that were spilled into the atmosphere, the April 26, 1986. However, wolves are exposed to more than 11.28 millirem (dose unit) of radiation each day throughout their lives, researchers say.
“A puppy that is born in the ZEC, from day one, is exposed to radiation from the environment, and that puppy will live half a decade or more and, every day, it will be continually exposed to that radiation,” said Campbell-Staton, and He added: “His blood showed ‘patterns that would be expected of a person with cancer’”, although they have not developed said disease.
The case of the Chernobyl dogs
The most common and at the same time most studied, have been dogs. According to scientists at National Human Genome Research Institute (USA), these animals are completely different from those in the rest of the world because they have a totally altered DNA.
The researcher Elaine Ostrandernoted in a study conducted in 2019, that “they can easily identify the dog populations living inside and in the shadow of the reactor, just by looking at their DNA profile.”
SA/HB
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