Experts Reach First Accord on Cancer Risk from Radiation Exposures--
First Ever Radiation Safety Agreement
In a surprise move, leading United States and international
scientific experts agreed in an historic accord that an increase in cancer
has not been observed at radiation exposures below 10,000 millirem given
to
the whole body in a short time. One airplane trip across the United States
results in about 5 millirem and some X-ray exams give about 50 millirem.
This was the conclusion of a group of 50 experts from the U.S.,
Canada, England, Austria, and Japan who met for three days to debate the
current state of knowledge on this often controversial topic.
The conference, held from August 1 - 3 at the Wingspread
conference
facility in Racine, Wisconsin, was sponsored by the Council of Scientific
Society Presidents and the Johnson Foundation for the purpose of building
a
working consensus toward a science-based responsible regulatory approach
for low-level ionizing radiation. Co-chairs of the Conference were Roger
McClellan, President of Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology in
Reaearch
Triangle Park, NC and Martin Apple, Exec. Director of the Council of
Scientific
Society Presidents in Washington,DC. Participants included scientists,
policy
makers, and executives from government, industry, and universities.
While the conference finding reassures scientists who are
concerned
about health effects, it does pose a problem. There is no evidence that
indicates an increased risk of cancer and thus no indication of the
relationship between radiation exposures and cancer at the low levels at
which radiation standards are set. Decisions about how much radiation
exposure radiation workers and the public can receive are determined from
these radiation standards.
To set radiation standards, experts assume that the straight-line
relationship between radiation dose and increased incidence of cancer
found
at higher radiation doses holds true at the lower doses and even down to
zero. Some people suggest that this approach overestimates the risk of
cancer from environmental and occupational exposures while others suggest
that it may underestimate the risk.
Finding any increase in the number of people who get cancer from
radiation is difficult because cancer is a common disease. About one out
of
every three people now living will get cancer and about one out of every
five will die from cancer.
In looking to the future, attendees at the Wingspread conference
voiced their optimism that research in molecular and cellular biology will
help in understanding how radiation and other agents cause cancer. Such
research should reduce the uncertainty used in making regulatory decisions
on low-level radiation.
They also urged continuing and expanding studies of people who have
been exposed to radiation. These include the Japanese atomic bomb
survivors, nuclear industry workers, and people who received radiation
exposure in medical procedures. It is felt that studies on nuclear
industry
workers may provide needed information on low doses received over long
time
periods.
At the conference, participants agreed that setting occupational
and environmental radiation limits must be based on the best available
scientific information combined with sound policy judgments. However, the
various regulatory agencies operate under many laws, many of which differ
in their requirements for achieving safety and in the extent to which they
consider the cost to society of operating within the set limits. The
Wingspread conference group concluded that there would be great merit in
harmonizing the laws that are concerned with the regulation of radiation
and the approaches used by the several agencies to regulate radiation.
The scientists and policy makers at the meeting also recognized the
continuing need to improve communication with the public on the health
risks from radiation exposure. In communicating about risks, there is a
need to clearly distinguish between risk estimates that come from
observations and those at lower levels that are based on extrapolation
from
doses above 10,000 millirem. Special efforts should be made to communicate
the uncertainty associated with any risk estimates.
______________________________________
CONTACTS:
REF: "Creating a Strategy for Science-Based
National Policy: Addressing Conflicting Scientific
Views on the Health Risks of Low-Level Ionizing Radiation"
Wingspread Conference Center, Racine, WI
July 31-August 3, 1997
Select List of Participants who can provide additional information:
Professor Roger H. Clarke (Speaker)
Director, National Radiological Protection Board
Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 ORQ
United Kingdom
Tel. 44-1235 822 633
Fax 44-1235 822 619
E-mail: [email protected]
The Honorable Greta Joy Dicus (Speaker)
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555
Tel. 301-415-1820
Fax 301-415-3504
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Marvin Goldman (Participant)
Past President, Health Physics Society
Univ. Calif at Davis
Davis, CA 95616-1729
Tel. 916-752-1341
Fax 916-752-7107
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Bernard D. Goldstein (Speaker)
Director, Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences Institute
Chair, Department of Environmental and Community
UMDNJ
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Tel. 908-445-0205
Fax 908-445-0131
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. George M. Gray (Speaker)
Deputy Director
Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02115
Tel. 617-432-4341
Fax 617-432-0190
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Stan Hatcher (Participant)
President, Americana Nuclear Society
RR1, Terra Cotta, Ontario LOP 1NO
Canada
Tel. 905-873-1369
Fax 905-873-7155
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Roger O. McClellan (Conference Co-Chair,
and Chair, Program Committee)
Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Tel. 919-558-1202
Fax 919-558-1400
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Dale L. Preston (Participant)
Chief, Department of Statistics
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
5-2 Hijiyama Park, Minami-ku
Hiroshima, 732, Japan
Tel. 011-81-82-261-3131
Fax 011-81-82-263-7279
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Jerome S. Puskin (Participant)
Head, Risk Assessment Team
Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (6602J)
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20406
Tel. 202-233-9212
Fax 202-233-9629
E-mail [email protected]
Dr. Richard B. Setlow (Participant)
Associate Director for Life Sciences
and Senior Biophysicist
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973
Tel 516-344-3391
Fax 516-344-6398
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Arthur Upton (Participant)
Director, Independent Peer Review, CRESP
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
Piscataway, NJ 08855
Tel. 908-445-0795
Fax 908-445-0959
E-mail: [email protected]
Lawrence G. Weinstock (Speaker)
Director, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
Tel. 202-233-9290
Fax 202-233-9651
E-mail: [email protected]
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