Risk estimates for carcinogenic effects of radiation

A review is given of the major new findings about the carcinogenic effects of radiation from epidermiological studies, radically exposed patients, occupational exposure and animal experiments. A summary is then given of the new UNSCEAR and BEIR risk estimates for the carcinogenic effects of radiation. A comparison is then made of these new estimates with those used in ICRP 26 in 1977. It is concluded that the lifetime risk of fatal cancer for a member of the general population exposed to low-level whole-body irradiation can be assumed to average approximately 5 per cent per Sv, thus exceeding that estimated in ICRP 26 by a factor of about 3-4. (UK)