Does ionizing radiation affect human genetics?
Read Full Article Abstract The accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Northern Ukraine took place on April 26th, 1986. The blast at Chernobyl released 100 times more radiation than the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result of high-dose radiation exposure in a short period of time, 25,000 of soldiers, firefighters and medical personnel involved in clean-up operations, died from leukemia, lung, thyroid and bone cancers. In addition, according to the official USSR statistics, 100 children and 50 adult residents of the neighboring towns died as a result of full-body irradiation. While the effects of short-term radiation exposure have been well documented, the effects of long-term exposure are immeasurable. From the Chernobyl forum in Vienna: ” It is expected that ionizing radiation is or will be the main cause for 4000 additional deaths per year”. These numbers, though, are only applicable to the individuals, who were exposed to the radiation immediately after the acci
