Ringworm affair

The ringworm affair refers to circumstances involving an estimated 20,000 Israeli individuals, particularly children, who were treated between 1948 and 1960 for tinea capitis (ringworm) with ionizing radiation to the head area. This population was composed mostly of newly arrived immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East. [Sadetzki S, Chetrit A, Freedman L, Stovall M, Modan B, et al. (2005). [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1667%2FRR3329&ct=1 "Long-Term Follow-up for Brain Tumor Development after Childhood Exposure to Ionizing Radiation for Tinea Capitis"] . "Radiation Research": Vol. 163, No. 4 pp. 424–432. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15799699 PMID 15799699] ] An estimated 200,000 children worldwide received X-ray treatment for tinea capitis in accordance with the standard Adamson-Kienbock procedure between 1910 and 1959, until griseofulvin, the first effective antifungal agent for ringworm, was introduced. [Shore RE, Moseson M, Xue X, Tse Y, Harley N, et al. (2002). [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1667%2F0033-7587%282002%29157%5B0410%3ASCAXRT%5D2.0.CO%3B2 "Skin Cancer after X-Ray Treatment for Scalp Ringworm"] . "Radiation Research": Vol. 157, No. 4 pp. 410–418. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=11893243 PMID 11893243] ]

ubject of documentaries

The affair has been the subject of a film documentary screened in Israel.

"The Ringworm Children" directed by David Belhassen and Asher Hemias. The documentary won the award for "Best Documentary" at the Haifa International Film Festival and was featured as a documentary at the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007. [cite web |publisher= israelfilmfestival.com |title= THE RINGWORM CHILDREN (20th Anniversary Israel Film Festival)|url=http://www.israelfilmfestival.com/iff04/films_los_angeles.aspx] [cite web |publisher= fandango.com |title= The Ringworm Children (FANDANGO) |url=http://www.fandango.com/theringwormchildren_88433/movietimes] While it is claimed in the documentary that the X-ray radiation used on the children was thousands of times beyond the maximum recommended dose [http://web.israelinsider.com/views/3998.htm] and it is suggested that the program was funded by the United States in order to test the effects of large radiation doses on humans, these claims have been attacked as outlandish [http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2007/03/ringworm_hoax.html] . The documentary alleges that 100,000 children were irradiated, and that 6,000 of them died shortly after receiving treatment. Many of the 'ringworm children' later developed cancer, and in 1995 the Knesset passed a law mandating the Israeli government to provide them with compensation.

Part of academic studies

Nadav Davidovitch, MD, MPH, PhD, (a lecturer in the Division of Public Health Ben Gurion University, Israel, and a Fulbright Scholar in the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health) and Dr. Avital Margalit of the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, presented a paper on the usage of radiation to stop ringworm outbreaks. [cite web|publisher= allacademic.com |title= Nadav Davidovitch and Avital Margalit. Injurious Medicine, Injurious Remedy: Public Health, Law, and Ringworm Mass Irradiation in Israel ("Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association, Renaissance Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 2004") |url=http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p117204_index.html]

ee also

*First government of Israel
*Jewish exodus from Arab lands
*Ma'abarot
*Chaim Sheba

External links

* [http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/3998.htm The Ringworm Children]
* [http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/310/6976/350/a Israel compensates for ringworm treatment]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7749694216572836816 "The Ringworm Children"] on Google Video

References

Articles

*Nadav Davidovich and Shifra Shvarts: "Health and Hegemony: Preventive Medicine, Immigrants and the Israeli Melting Pot", Israel Studies, Indiana University Press Journals, Summer 2004, Vol. 9, No. 2: Pages 150-179.