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Radiation Causes Mutations for Several Generations







magnu96196@aol.com wrote:



> Source:

> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/hsn/20020507/hl_hsn/radiation_c

>

> auses_mutations_for_several_generations

> =========================================================

> Radiation Causes Mutations for Several Generations

> May 6, 2002

> By Ed Edelson

> HealthScoutNews Reporter

>

> MONDAY, May 6 (HealthScoutNews) -- Open-jawed about an unanticipated finding

> and puzzled about its implications for human health, researchers report a

> mouse study shows genetic mutations caused by radiation can continue into a

> third generation.

>

>

> The results, appearing in the May 14 issue of the Proceedings of the National

> Academy of Sciences (news - web sites), were "totally unexpected," says Yuri

> E. Dubrova, head of the research team.

>

> The finding is "a complete nightmare," says Dubrova, a reader in genetics at

> the University of Leicester in England. "I expected to find nothing in the

> grandchildren" of irradiated mice, he says, "but no, they show exactly the

> same increase in germ line mutation rate." Germ line cells are those involved

> in reproduction.

>

> The study was actually a double-check of results found in a previous trial,

> in which one strain of mice was irradiated with high-energy neutrons, Dubrova

> says. "To our surprise, we got a high mutation rate in the offspring of

> males. But fission neutrons are known to be a powerful mutagen [something

> that causes mutations], so we asked what would happen if we do the same thing

> with more well-known X-rays."

>

> So three strains of mice were exposed to both fission neutrons and X-rays,

> and their offspring were studied to see if they had the same mutations as

> occurred in the radiation-exposed generation.

>

> "The bottom line is that first, all three strains show the same effects in

> the offspring of irradiated males and second, both X-rays and fission

> neutrons do the same thing," Dubrova says.

>

> "The remarkable finding that radiation-induced germ-line instability persists

> for at least two generations raises important issues of risk evaluation in

> humans," the journal report says.

>

> No human studies of the effects of radiation exposure on future generations

> have been done. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation, a joint

> Japanese-American effort looking at the effects of the atomic bombs dropped

> on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reported in 1991 that a study of 76,625 babies

> born to survivors found "no statistically demonstrable increase in major

> birth defects considered in total or in any specific type among the children

> of atomic-bomb survivors."

>

> However, it is possible that radiation exposure might increase the risk of

> cancer, Dubrova says, stressing this is pure speculation.

>

> "If we can speculate, if children of irradiated parents are unstable [have

> inherited mutations], this might create a situation where they have a higher

> chance of getting cancer," he says.

>

> And the concluding sentence of the journal report says "the data raise the

> important issue of trans-generational effects of ionizing radiation for

> humans, providing, for example, a plausible explanation for the apparent

> leukemia cluster near Sellafield nuclear plant." The plant is in England.

>

> It is an almost unprovable speculation, says Richard B. Setlow, a senior

> biophysicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (news - web sites), who

> edited the journal paper. Proving that what happened in the laboratory mice

> happens in humans would require a study that might last a century, he says.

>

> "Think of how long it would take, following generation after generation,"

> Setlow says. "I don't know if we will ever find out if it is acceptable to

> extrapolate from mice to men and women."

>

> The result of the study is "rather surprising," Setlow says, largely because

> "no one has thought of the possibility. When you know the answer, you say,

> 'Why shouldn't it happen?' But people haven't looked."

>

> It's possible that even if the same thing happens in humans, health effects

> might be limited because "sometimes mutations that are deleterious don't get

> transmitted," Setlow says.

>

> What To Do

>

> The report should not raise doubts about the safety of medical radiation,

> because "the kind of doses you get medically do not cause mutations," Setlow

> says.

>



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