Subject: Re: No Safe Dose of Radiation

>Subject: Re: No Safe Dose of Radiation
>
>Reuter
>
LONDON (Oct. 8) - Radiation even in very small doses is far more 
damaging to health than previously thought a leading science 
magazine said Thursday.

Most scientists now believe radiation below the 
internationally-accepted level of one millisievert per year can 
damage DNA in a new way that could harm the gene pool wreck 
future generations and kill the New Scientist said.

''It's a horrifying concept. But we now have early indications 
that it may be happening '' Eric Wright of Britain's Medical 
Research Council (MRC) told the magazine.

The deadly effects of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese 
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or of the world's worst nuclear 
accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1996 are well documented.

But Wright says radiation can also damage cells in a way that 
cannot be detected until they have divided several times in what 
he calls radiation-induced genomic instability.

''I regard the phenomenon as established '' he said. ''There is 
no doubt that genomic instability is a real consequence of 
radiation exposure.''

The magazine said Wright's studies on mice and in humans and at 
least six other projects around the world showed the progeny of 
cells exposed to low-dose radiation had more chromosome 
aberrations than normal cells.

The research also revealed that some people are more vulnerable 
to genetic instability than others.

Although not yet proven Wright believes induced genomic 
instability causes cancers like leukemia and may result in small 
increases in many other diseases.

It could also aid the development of brain disorders such as 
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and increase developmental 
defects in fetuses.

Dudley Goodhead also of the MRC supports the theory and says just 
a tiny particle can damage a cell and boost the risk of disease.

But David Cox of Britain's National Radiological Protection Board 
citing the medical surveillance of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
victims told the New Scientist there was no evidence to support 
the theory that genomic instability can increase the risk of 
diseases or kill.

But although irrefutable proof is still lacking the magazine said 
the genomic instability theory was already causing other 
scientists working in radiation protection to question the 
existing safeguards.

Reuter 19:54 10-08-97


Jacqueline O. Kittrell
General Counsel
American Environmental Health Studies Project
Inc.
6328 Strawberry Plains Pike
Knoxville
Tennessee  37914
jackieo@mindspring.com