Cancer risk, death increased by prolonged exposure to low-level radiation

An international group of researchers has conducted a major study to gain insight on the correlation between the risk of cancer and occupational exposure due to ionising radiation.

The results of the study shows strong indication of a linear increase in the relative rate of cancer mortality with increasing exposure to ionising radiation at the low dose rates, which is typically encountered in the nuclear industries in France, the UK, and the USA.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, spearheaded the research study. The results, which was published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal also estimate that 1 in every 100 cancer deaths could be attributed to radiation exposure in the workplace.

The methodology of the study has a sample size data of 308,297 workers from the nuclear industry of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The workers were then subjected to detailed monitoring for external exposure to ionising radiation. The average age of the participants in the study was 58 years, and most of them were male. Their duration of employment, and socio-economic status were also taken into consideration.

"The findings are important not only for the protection of workers in the nuclear industry but also for medical staff and the general population," since the level of doses received by nuclear workers is comparable with that received by patients repeatedly exposed to CT scans or other radiology procedures, said IARC researcher Dr. Isabelle Thierry-Chef, according to Japan Times.

"This stresses the importance of striking a balance between the risks and the benefits of such medical imaging procedures," she added.

This latest study on the exposure to ionizing radiation and its link to a possible increase in risk of cancer has been conducted to supplement the existing information that substantiate the already accepted idea that exposure to acute and high doses of ionizing radiation, like those Japanese who were exposed from the atomic bomb incident, can, indeed, cause cancer.

The objective is to conduct another research with low-level radiation as the independent variable. The study would also want to establish a more precise estimate of cancer risks which the previous research has yet to validate when it all started back in the 1950s, notes the Rochdale Online.

Meanwhile, the Health and Labor Ministry of Japan confirmed Tuesday the first ever case of a person diagnosed with cancer due to radiation exposure while working at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the 2011 meltdown of three of the plant's reactors, the NJ.com reported.