The evaluation of the germinal mutagenic impact of Chernobyl radiological contamination in Hungary.

The genetic consequences of radioactive fall-out deposition from the Chernobyl (USSR) accident in Hungary was evaluated as a part of the ongoing programme on the population-based Hungarian Surveillance of Germinal Mutations. The surveillance is based on three groups of indicator conditions: 15 sentinel anomalies (indicators of germinal dominant gene mutations), Down's syndrome (an indicator of germinal numerical and structural chromosomal mutations) and unidentified multiple congenital abnormalities (indicators of germinal dominant gene and chromosomal mutations). Cases with these indicator conditions were selected from the material of the Hungarian Congenital Abnormality Registry. After the diagnostic accuracies were checked, familial and sporadic cases were separated. Only the latter group was evaluated for evidence of new mutations. The analysis did not reveal any measurable germinal mutagenic effects of the Chernobyl accident. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the rates of these three groups of indicator conditions between regions with higher and lower increased background radiation.