Why IR events 60+ years ago have health implications today for Genetically Modified Offspring (GMO).
Prior to 1950, only limited consideration was given to the health impacts of the worldwide dispersion of radiation from nuclear testing. In the following decades, governments began significantly changing the global radiation environment by testing nuclear weapons . The genetic effects of radiation are expressed, not just through irradiated individuals, but through their offspring. Modern epidemiological studies with long-term follow-up are needed to accumulate sufficient data for statistical analysis. Historically , the scientific model to study generational genetic effects from ionizing radiation was developed as far back as 1928 , Muller. Scientific models became further standerdized during the long term studies of Japanese survivors of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings and the Marshallese rehabitation of their homeland, after atomic testing.
The genetic effects of radiation must be detected through the study of specific endpoints, for example, visible chromosome abnormalities, proteins with altered conformations or charges, spontaneous abortions, congenital malformations, or premature death. In addition, radiation induced mutations may affect different endpoints to different degrees.
- By the early 1960s, there was no place on earth where the evidence of atmospheric nuclear testing could not be found, soil, water and even polar ice carried markers. It’s even used as an authentication tool in collecting forensic evidence of Cold War era master fine artworks.
- Studies of populations exposed to radioactive fallout point to increased cancer risk as the primary late health effect of exposure. As studies of biological samples (including bone, thyroid glands and other tissues) have been undertaken, it has become increasingly clear that specific radionuclides in fallout are implicated in fallout related cancers and other late effects.
- Increased cancer risk is the main long-term hazard associated with exposure to ionizing radiation. The relationship between radiation exposure and subsequent cancer risk is perhaps the best understood, and certainly the most highly quantified, dose-response relationship for any common environmental human carcinogen.
- Doses from fallout received in the 1950s and 1960s have been estimated in recent years using mathematical exposure assessment models and historical fallout deposition data. Numerous comprehensive reports from expert committees summarize information on radiation-related cancer risks. Many of those exposed were veterans or civilian contractors that worked in Top Secret or above environments.
Why this matters.
Our group getting access to information is critical when we suspect our living or deceased family members were exposed during the global nuclear arms race. Although there is a continuing need to assess the genetic effects of radiation exposure, for several reasons the perspective has changed somewhat from that in the 1950s.
First, it is now clear that the risk of cancer in individuals exposed to radiation is significant and that limiting exposure to radiation to reduce the risk of cancer also limits the genetically significant exposure.
Second, the instruments and techniques used in medical radiation have improved significantly, so that the overall doses used in medical diagnoses are reduced and patient exposure in all but the targeted organs is lessened.
Third, in regard to the induction of mutations, the greater current risk seems to result from exposure to chemical mutagens in the environment rather than from the exposure of populations to radiation. Despite changed conditions, estimating the genetic effects of radiation remains important for setting exposure standards, both for the general population and for those exposed in their occupations.
There are many difficulties in measuring the genetic effects of exposure of the human population to radiation and other mutagens. This is why, more than 20 years after the BEIR Committee first addressed the issues of radiation exposure, there is still uncertainty and controversy. The genetic effects of radiation are expressed, not just in irradiated individuals, but in their offspring. The time lag is great because of the duration of the human life cycle, and massive epidemiological studies with long-term follow-up are needed to accumulate sufficient data for statistical analysis. Moreover, for risk estimation of exposures that are not uniformly or randomly delivered to the entire population, the age and sex distribution of the exposed population and the different probabilities of having children for members of the population of each age and sex must be taken into account.
The genetic effects of radiation must be detected through the study of specific endpoints, for example, visible chromosome abnormalities, proteins with altered conformations or charges, spontaneous abortions, congenital malformations, or premature death. In addition, radiation induced mutations may affect different endpoints to different degrees.