More Evidence of Mutations Caused by Chernobyl Found in Swallows

A study of barn swallows has yielded more evidence that contamination from the 1986 Chernobyl accident caused inherited genetic damage.

Last year, researchers reported studies in people and rodents called voles which suggested that the radiation caused mutations that were passed on to offspring. The mutations in humans did not affect health.

In the new work, scientists from Sweden and France compared barn swallows captured around Chernobyl in 1991 and 1996 with those found elsewhere in the Ukraine, Milan, Italy, and in museum specimens from all three sites captured before 1986.

Researchers looked for spots of white feathers in places where the plumage is normally blue or red. The white feathers are caused by genetic mutations. They appeared in 13% to 15% of Chernobyl swallows, compared with 2% or less in swallows from elsewhere or in the museum collections.