title: Certitudes and controversies regarding the deleterious effects of low doses ionizing radiation.
abstract: The problem of the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation must be a constant preoccupation of the medical staff. We must never forget that radiations can cure (by increasing the diagnostic accuracy and by the benefic use of radiotherapy), but can also generate cancer and genomic instability. All the governments have the desire to use the "cheap" (it's cheap when you do not take into consideration all the spenditures regarding the monitorisation of radiation workers and the cost of decontamination) nuclear energy. We must underline, also, the fact that a too frequent exposure to ionizing radiation (especially by CT examinations) is generating undesired consequences, and that the direct irradiation and the bystander effect can create a genomic instability that is "transferred" to the following generation. As, nowadays, it is almost impossible to live in an environment devoid of risks, we must try to reduce them significantly.
authors.affiliation: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest Medical Clinic, Clinical Emergency Ilfov County Hospital, Bucharest, Romania. drhoriabalan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bălan
authors.forename: Alice Lavinia
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bălăceanu
mesh_terms: D002477:Cells / Q000528:radiation effects; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D042822:Genomic Instability; D006801:Humans; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment