Publication Laka-library:
Cancer effects of background radiation (1987)
| Author | Alice Stewart |
| Date | May 1987 |
| Classification | 6.01.4.20/12 (RADIATION - NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY / RADON) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Cancer Effects of Background Radiation How Reliable are ICRP Recommendations The International Commission on Radiological Protection maintains that the best method of estimating the cancer risk from small doses of ionizing radiations is by linear extrapolation of high dose effects (1). Realignment of broken chromosomes after exposure to radiation is a well known phenomenom which is supposed to reduce the risk at low dose levels, and the risk from natural background radiation - with an average dose rate of 0.1 rems per annum - is supposed to be so small that even a twenty fold increase would not have a noticeable effect on cancer prevalence. These opinions are shared by all standard setting committees in Europe and the United states. Nevertheless, there are a number of epidemiological observations which are compatible with a) linear extrapolation of high dose effects grossly underestimating the cancer risks of radiation workers and b) a background radiation dose rate of 2.0 rems per annum being more than sufficient to double cancer prevalence rates. Therefore we are clearly dealing with a complex situation which (since it does not lend itself to animal experimentation), requires correct assessment of several epidemiological studies.
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