Assessment for medico-legal purposes of the contribution of occupational or other defined exposure to ionizing radiation as causative agent in individuals suffering from or having died of cancer

For the purpose of workmen's compensation and other medico-legal reasons it is frequently desirable to decide in a given case of cancer if this cancer is the result of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. This question, as a rule, can be decided only in terms of probability. It is the view of the Advisory Committee on Radiological Protection that the use of 'causative odds' calculations is one useful step in the evaluation of individual cases. The calculation of causative odds in a given case does not provide an exact mathematical probability of the cancer having resulted from exposure to radiation, but give a broad indication of the magnitude of this probability. Other factors must be taken into account, and a semi-quantitative descriptive classification should be used rather than exact numerical values of probability