The statistics show an overall increase among both boys and girls during the same periods for cancer of the eye and thyroid and Hodgkin's disease. Iraqi propagandists would not have made the mistake of leaving those figures intact. Annual figures for overall cancer patients give a clear idea of the increases. By 1992, the figure has soared to 8,526. The comparable breakdown figure for males is 3,913 in 1990 and 4,735 in 1992, for females 3,145 in 1990 and 3,791 in 1992.
Iraqi doctors say there are many cancer cases that are never reported to the government.
Other families believe it wrong to admit they have cancer cases - in case it affects the marriage prospects of their other children. So we may have far more cases than we realise.