CANCER THREAT EXAGGERATED

The BBC takes a look at the lingering health effects of nuclear weapons and comes to the following conclusion regarding the Big C:

The number of cancer cases among the survivors will continue to rise in the next few years, perhaps peaking in the 2020s.

The BBC report mentions the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, which coordinates research on the health effects of the bombings, but does not mention the RERF cancer numbers:

As of the end of 1990, a total of 4687 nonleukemia cancer deaths had occurred among the 50,113 ABCC-RERF Life Span Study (LSS) survivors with significant exposures. If this population had not been exposed to radiation, we estimate that 4306 cancer deaths would have occurred during this time.

So, while a significant number of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims have developed cancer, the health threat is pehaps not nearly as great as we are led to believe. Why would anyone want to exaggerate the threat?