Revision 1
March 19, 1998

by Radiation, Science, and Health, Inc.,
Edited by J. Muckerheide

1.2.1.1
Cancer/Leukemia>

References

"Kondo (1993) presents the case in detail of the apparently beneficial effects of low-level atomic bomb radiation on lifespan, mutation induction, and mortality from most types of cancer for survivors. He points out that a hormesis-like effect may have been induced by the radiation that lasted for 20 years."

Dr. Y. Okumura and Dr. M. Mine of the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, report (1997) that among about 100,000 A-bomb survivors registered at Nagasaki University School of Medicine, males exposed to 31-40 cGy showed significantly lower mortality from non-cancerous diseases than age-matched unexposed males (p<0.05), and the death rate for exposed males and females was smaller than that for unexposed. The low doses of A-bomb radiation increased lifespan of A-bomb survivors. Death from all causes did not show significant increase with dose; cancer deaths increased with a dose threshold at about 50 cGy. For survivors exposed to <0.5 cGy assumed as "non-exposed" vs. survivors exposed to >1 cGy assumed as "exposed", and an average dose of exposed population of 125 cGy, the death rate was lower for exposed A-bomb survivors than for non-exposed survivors. It is clear that A-bomb radiation causes cancer in survivors dependent on radiation dose, but the data suggest that small doses of A-bomb radiation decreased death rate and relative risk and increased lifespan of A-bomb survivors.