MARCH 28 MARKED THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. A series of events near the plant commemorated the worst nuclear power plant accident in U.S. history, but drew only passing reference in the national media and modest coverage by local reporters.

A press conference featuring the University of North Carolina's Stephen Wing and the Union of Concerned Scientists' David Lochbaum merited only a small story in the following day's Harrisburg Patriot-News, and the article failed to acknowledge Wing, who discussed his published findings on cancer rates near the stricken plant. An article and editorial in the March 28 Philadelphia Inquirer completely omitted the topic of health effects.

So, 25 years after the accident, the question, "Did anyone die because of Three Mile Island?" remains largely unanswered.

Soon after the meltdown, a number of anecdotes about symptoms, disease, and death among local humans, animals, and plants began circulating. And some local citizens conducted door-to-door surveys documenting potential disease clusters, collecting the type of information that may be useful to professional researchers when they structure their study methodology. But the "gold standard" of health research is the publication of articles in professional, peer-reviewed journals.

A visit to the National Library of Medicine's Web site shows 121 journal articles in response to the key words "Three Mile Island." The site documents that the initial reaction from the scientific community was swift; just over two years after the accident, 31 articles had already been published. Some discussed attempts to measure the radiation doses to which the local population had been exposed. Others examined emergency preparedness in the area.

A few research heavyweights contributed estimates of potential health risks to local residents. These estimates were uniformly low. Arthur Upton, former head of the National Cancer Institute, projected that there might be a single additional cancer death among persons living within 50 miles of the plant as a result of radiation absorbed from Three Mile Island. Shields Warren, a longtime member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, estimated two additional cancer deaths.

The early literature included no articles with data on actual changes in local disease and death rates after the accident. Moreover, six of the 31 articles focused on the topics of stress-related illness and psychological suffering as a result of the accident. The U.S. Public Health Service began a mental health survey of the area. These efforts were bolstered by the conclusion of the Kemeny Commission, which had been established by President Jimmy Carter, that the only health threat Three Mile Island posed to the local population was mental distress.

After the meltdown one would have expected to see some articles featuring local health statistics--especially statistics relating to the very young. The developing fetus and infant are much more susceptible than adults to the effects of ionizing radiation. In addition, reports of elevated disease rates in the youngest residents near the plant quickly surfaced.

Pennsylvania Health Commissioner Gordon MacLeod publicly stated that...