Radiation cancer risk

Environmental Dose Reconstruction and Risk Implications, Proceedings of the Thirty-first Annual Meeting held on April 12-13, 1995 (including Taylor Lecture No. 19) (1996) Implications of New Data on Radiation Cancer Risk,... 

Hofmann, W., Cellular Lung Dosimetry for Inhaled Radon Decay Products as a Base for Radiation - Induced Lung Cancer Risk Assessment. Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 20 95-112 (1982). 

The calculation of effective dose equivalent is sometimes used even when reporting values for natural radioactivity. The concept of effective dose equivalent was developed for occupational exposures so that different types of exposure to various organs could be unified in terms of cancer risk. It is highly unlikely that the general population would require summation of risks from several sources of radiation exposure. 

Steinhausler,F. and E. Pohl, Lung Cancer Risk for Miners and Atomic Bomb Survivors and its Relevance to Indoor Radon Exposure, Radiation Protection Dosimetry Vol.7, No.1-4 389-394 (1983). 

Calculation of lung cancer risk for radon daughter exposure is based on factors developed by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP, 1984). The risk coefficients are expressed in terms of lifetime risk from lifetime exposure for a population of mixed ages, comparable to the standardized U.S. population, and range between one and two per 10,000 WLM of exposure. The percent increase in risk is related to a normal lifetime lung cancer risk of 0.041. 

The following expressions were employed for health risk as a result of the radiation exposure incurred during occupancy of a property the cancer risk per individual for gamma and/or for radon daughter exposure the individuals percent increase in cancer risks relative to the respective, normal cancer risks and the number of projected excess cancer deaths due to the radiation exposure (external and internal) for the number of occupants at each property. 

Haemisegger E, Jones A, Steigerwald B, et al. 1985. The air toxics problem in the United States An analysis of cancer risks for selected pollutants. Washington, DC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation (ANR-443). EPA-450/1-85-001. NTIS No. PB85-225175. 

Wood, D.H. 1991. Long-term mortality and cancer risk in irradiated rhesus monkeys. Radiation Res. 126 132-140. 

Stochastic radiation effects are typically associated with those that occur over many months or years (i.e., are typically chronic instead of acute). Chronic doses are typically on the order of background doses (0.3 rem [0.003 Sv] or less) and are not necessarily associated with larger doses that could result from a terrorist attack with radiological weapons. However, stochastic health effects are defined here as effects that occur many years after chronic or acute exposure to radiological contaminants. Stochastic effects are categorized as cancers and hereditary effects. Because no case of hereditary effects (e.g., mutation of future generations) has been documented, this discussion focuses on cancer risk. 

NCRP, Uncertainties in Fatal Cancer Risk Estimates Used in Radiation Protection, Report 126, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Bethesda, MD, 1997. 

Both large and small amounts of radiation are damaging to health. Current scientific consensus is radiation can also increase the probability of cancer, and a conservative assumption is no threshold level exists below which there is no additional risk of cancer. There is considerable debate about how great the cancer risks are when people are chronically exposed to very low levels of radiation. Since everyone is environmentally exposed to a small amount of radiation, the minimum amount of additional radiation that may constitute a health hazard is not well known. 

SC 46-10 Assessment of Occupational Doses from Internal Emitters SC 46-11 Radiation Protection During Special Medical Procedures SC 46-13 Design of Facilities for Medical Radiation Therapy SC 57 Dosimetry and Metabolism of Radionuclides SC 57-2 Respiratory Tract Model SC 57-9 Lung Cancer Risk SC 57-10 Liver Cancer Risk SC 57-14 Placental Transfer SC 57-15 Uremium... 

Albert. R.E. (1983) The acceptability of using the cancer risk estimates associated with the radiation protection standard of 5 lems/year as the basis for setting protection standards for chemical carcinogens with special reference to vinyl chloride, Report to Ministry of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Division, Ibronto, Ontetrio, Canada (Ministry of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Division, Ibronto, Ontario, Canada). 

Land, C.E., Boice, J.D., Jr., Shore, R.E., Norman, J.E., and Tokunaga. M. (1980). Breast cancer risk from low-dose exposures to ionizing radiation Results of parallel analysis of three exposed populations of women, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 65, 353. 

Tucker, M.A., Boice, J.D., Jr, Hoover, R.N. and Meadows, A.T. (1984). Cancer risk following treatment of childhood cancer, page 211 in Radiation Carcinogenesis Epidemiology and Biological Significance, BOICE, J.D., JR, AND Fraumeni, J.F., Jr, Eds. (Raven Press, New York). 

My research eventually convinced me (and a great many others) that radon in homes is very much less harmful than the widely publicized estimates that were based on extrapolating from the number of excess cancers seen in uranium miners who had very high radon exposures. Those estimates were (and are) based on the assumption that the cancer risk from radiation is proportional to the dose, the so-called linear-no threshold theory (LNT). 

B. L. Cohen, The Cancer Risk From Low-Level Radiation, Am. J. Roentgen, (in press). 

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