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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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