The Advisory Board members also approved their $2.3 million dollar operating budget request for FY 2006.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES, Advisors to the Nation on Science, Engineer and Medicine; PRESS RELEASE, “Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation May Cause Harm;” June 29, 2005
EXCERPT: “WASHINGTON — A preponderance of scientific
evidence shows that even low doses of ionizing radiation, such
as gamma rays and X-rays, are likely to pose some risk of
adverse health effects, says a new report from the National
Academies' National Research Council.”
The report's focus is low-dose, low-LET -- "linear energy
transfer" -- ionizing radiation that is energetic enough to break
biomolecular bonds. In living organisms, such radiation can
cause DNA damage that eventually leads to cancers. . .
The study committee defined low doses as those ranging from
nearly zero to about 100 millisievert (mSv) -- u nits that measure
radiation energy deposited in living tissue. The radiation dose
from a chest X-ray is about 0.1 mSv. . .
Specifically, the committee's thorough review of available
biological and biophysical data supports a "linear, no-threshold"
(LNT) risk model, which says that the smallest dose of
low-level ionizing radiation has the potential to cause an
increase in health risks to humans. In the past, some researchers
have argued that the LNT model exaggerates adverse health effects,
while others have said that it underestimates the harm. The
preponderance of evidence supports the LNT model, this new
report says. — THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES, Advisors to the Nation
on Science, Engineer and Medicine; PRESS RELEASE, “Low Levels of
Ionizing Radiation May Cause Harm;” June 29, 2005.
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“The International Commission on Radiological Protection has indicated for years that there is no safe level of exposure to radiation. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements agrees.”
