Re: cancer risk from radiation

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

>Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 10:03:41 -0400

>From: Bernard Cohen <blc+@PITT.EDU>

>Subject: cancer risk from radiation



>    I am looking for the cancer mortality risk from whole body low level, 

>low dose rate radiation according to linear-no threshold theory, with 

>documentation that can be cited. It is my impression that the normally 

>accepted risk is 0.05 per Sievert, but I don't know a citation for it. 

>BEIR-V gives about 0.08 per Sievert for acute exposure, but gives no 

>reduction for low dose rate. I searched through UNSCEAR 2000 and could not 

>find a number. Can someone help me on this?



Apologies if this has already been answered; I receive the digest.  Here's a 

cite I usually reference:



http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_8/8-4/hlthrisk.html



UNSCEAR, 1993:(4) 0.11 fatal cancers per person-sievert for high doses 

(comparable to those experienced by the survivors of the Hiroshima and 

Nagasaki bombings). For low doses, UNSCEAR states that "no single figure can 

be quoted" for the risk reduction factor, "but it is clear that the factor 

is small. The data from the Japanese studies suggest a factor not exceeding 

2."(5) For a population between the ages of 18 and 64 (corresponding to the 

ages of people in a typical industrial work force), a factor of 2 yields a 

fatal cancer risk at low dose rates of 0.04 per person-sievert.



BEIR Committee, 1990:(6) 0.08 fatal cancers per person-sievert for a single 

dose of 0.1 sievert, based on Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivor data. This 

figure is unadjusted for any reduction of risk at low dose rates.



ICRP, 1991:(7) 0.05 fatal cancers per person-sievert for the entire 

population and 0.04 fatal cancers per person-sievert for adult workers, with 

both estimates being for low doses and incorporating a dose rate reduction 

factor of 2.



The US Environmental Protection Agency uses a cancer incidence risk factor 

of 0.06 per person-sievert.(8) Since the cancer incidence rate is about 50 

percent greater than the cancer fatality rate, the implicit risk for fatal 

cancers is about 0.04 per person-sievert.



4 United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 

(UNSCEAR). Sources, Effects, and Risks of Ionizing Radiation. New York: 

United Nations, 1993, pp. 16­17.



5 Ibid, p. 17.



6 National Research Council 1990, pp. 5­6.



7 ICRP 1991, pp. 69­70.



8 US Environmental Protection Agency. Issues Paper on Radiation Site Cleanup 

Regulations. EPA 402-R-93-084. Washington, D.C.: Office of Radiation and 

Indoor Air, September 1993, p. 7.



Regards,

Jim



--

Hold the door for the stranger behind you. When the driver in the adjacent 

lane signals to get over, slow down. Smile and say "hi" to the folks you 

pass on the sidewalk. Give blood. Volunteer.



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