Genetic-Mutation Risks

The individual risk from the medical use of X-rays must be evaluated against the potential seriousness of the conditions for which they are properly indicated. There is, however, another major danger from ionizing radiation that of damaging the gonads (testes and ovaries) and creating harmful mutations of the genes that transmit hereditary characteristics. Geneticists strongly advise against provoking any gene mutations beyond those produced by natural background radiation.

While some geneticists would still argue the point, the present consensus is that the risk of any given individual having a child with inborn defects is not significantly increased above normal by submitting to the use of safely shielded X-rays for properly indicated medical or dental needs. The amount of theoretical harm done by correctly administered X-ray dosages is so small that it has never actually been detected or measured. Properly given dental X-rays involve such a limited area of the body that they contribute negligibly to whole body or gonadal radiation.

Nuclear Weapons Atomic fallout risk

The third source of radiation hazards to which the human race is now exposed came into existence in 1945 with the first atomic bomb. Since then there has been great scientific, popular, and political furor over the legitimacy of testing or using such weapons. The explosion of an atomic weapon above the surface of the earth creates an atomic fall out, creating dangers that by their very nature are beyond the control of exposed persons. A particular problem is posed by the long lived isotope strontium 90, chemically similar fit to calcium. Blown into the atmosphere and      later descending to earth, this isotope could be absorbed by plants and passed on to man in meat, milk, and other foods. In the human body it would tend, like calcium, to lodge in the bones and might therefore damage the blood-forming organs and produce leukemia especially in children. The reality of this the cortical risk is constantly being evaluated For example, the U. S. Public Health Service has expanded to every state its program measuring the kinds and amounts of radioactivity in the meals of selected school children. These regular diet studies permit more accurate estimates of the daily intake of radio active substances by children and young adults.   The Federal Radiation Council, in a report  issued in May, 1963, stated:

Liodine 131 doses from weapons testing conducted through 1962 have not caused undue risk to health. "Health risks from present and anticipates levels of strontium 90 and from fallout due to      testing through 1962 are too small to justify measures to limit the intake by modification of the diet or altering the normal distribution and use of food." In May 1964, John D. Harley, Ph. D., of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission pointed out that natural radioactive isotopes (background radiation) give Americans a bigger dose of radiation every year than arrives through radioactive fallout, although the dose from fallout is a "significant fraction" of the natural dose.

The greatest potential problem of radioactive contamination, if the problem goes uncontrolled, lies in the continuing development of atomic energy. A U. S. Public Health Service committee estimated that the accumulated volume of radioactive wastes will increase from about 1.5 million gallons in 1965 to 2 billion gallons in 1995.