Is natural background or radiation from nuclear power plants leukemogenic?
In view of the enormous number of base pair replications per annum in hemopoietic stem cells with the likelihood of coding errors, the rarity of the leukemogenic event at the cellular level after high doses of radiation, the infrequent occurrence of radiation events in cells at low-level exposure (large fraction of cells uninvolved), biological protective mechanisms and the realization that exposure of human populations to radiation from nuclear power plants is a very small fraction of natural radioactivity and will for the foreseeable future remain small and that populations exposed to high natural background radiation show no detectable harmful effects, it is concluded that either there is no effect, or for statistical reasons one cannot detect an effect.
Cronkite
E P
EP
Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973.
D000328:Adult; D001417:Background Radiation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000528:radiation effects; D002648:Child; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007953:Leukemia, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008887:Military Medicine; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D009689:Nuclear Warfare; D011210:Power Plants; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D011859:Radiography / Q000009:adverse effects; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology