Leveraging Advances in Modern Science to Revitalize Low-Dose Radiation Research in the United States (2022) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-30
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From page 15... ...
Low doses of radiation delivered over long periods of time do not cause prompt tissue or organ damage but may cause cellular damage that increases an individual's long-term risk of cancer and hereditary disorders in a stochastic fashion. Current radiation protection standards for low-dose and low-dose-rate exposure focus on protection against such stochastic effects.
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Some communication challenges recognized by radiation protection regulators include justifying regulating radiation to low levels in the presence of inconclusive scientific evidence of risk, addressing questions regarding a "safe" level of radiation exposure and about individual risks, and using appropriate risk comparisons.4 Communicating about additional low-dose radiation exposures in relation to background natural radiation exposure levels also presents challenges. Today, concerns about risks at low doses and low dose rates influence patient acceptance of medical diagnostic procedures, as well as U.S.
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Examples of such studies include the atomic bombing survivors and many studies of medically, occupationally, and environmentally exposed populations. If studies predict risks at low doses of radia tion based on a dose-response function estimated using only data at high doses, continued
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and the improved capabilities to quantify health risks at low-dose and low-dose-rate exposures (see Chapter 5, specifically Sections 5.2 to 5.4) make it both urgent and feasible to improve the scientific understanding of the adverse human health effects from radiation exposures at doses and dose rates experienced by the U.S.
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1.1 LOW-DOSE RADIATION EXPOSURES TO THE U.S. POPULATION Agencies with radiation protection responsibilities including the Environmental Protection Agency and advisory bodies such as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements communicate radiation exposures to the U.S.
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. Although some low-dose radiation exposures, natural or human-made, can be avoided or controlled (e.g., by limiting occupational exposures and those to members of the public from nuclear power plant routine operations and accidental releases or by remediating high radon levels in homes)
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. More recently, other cohort studies involving populations with medical, occupational, and environmental radiation exposures have allowed for direct estimates of the effect of radiation exposure on cancer risks following protracted exposures that are more relevant to the types of exposures received today by the U.S.
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. 1.2 LOW-DOSE RADIATION RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES Research focused on the mechanisms and outcomes from exposures to low-dose radiation can answer critical questions relevant to radiation protection of the U.S.
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The program took advantage of new technologies available at the time as well as advances in molecular and cell biology made by the Human Genome Project and expanded knowledge of molecular and cellular responses to radiation and helped better understand biological responses at low doses of radiation. For example, research supported by the Low-Dose Radiation Research Program (1)
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BER's current mission is to "support scientific research and facilities to achieve a predictive understanding of complex biological, Earth, and environmental systems with the aim of advancing the nation's energy and infrastructure security."13 In support of its mission, BER has remained at the forefront of genome biology research and has also produced computational infrastructure and modeling capabilities that are run on DOE's fastest supercomputers, among the most capable in the world.14 However, as BER shifted its focus to bioenergy and environmental research, its interest and expertise in radiation research have markedly diminished. Despite suggestions from the Low Dose Radiation Expert Subcommittee of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee15 for the scope of a small program on radiation health 13 Seehttps://www.energy.gov/science/ber/biological-and-environmental-research.
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The other five agencies that funded low-dose radiation research during that period were the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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A much larger number of federal agencies, although they do not conduct or fund low-dose radiation research, use the research findings to meet their statutory responsibilities to set up radiation protection standards and guidelines, assist in the response to nuclear or radiological incidents, administer radiation compensation programs, or carry out other activities relevant to their missions that require knowledge of low-dose radiation risks (see Figure 1.4 and Chapter 3)
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FIGURE 1.4 Federal agencies that support low-dose radiation health effects research and use the research findings (left panel) and agencies that use the findings of low-dose radiation research to accomplish their missions (right panel)
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For example, in addition to developing a long-term strategic and prioritized research agenda for low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation research within DOE, the National Academies was also tasked by DOE with defining the health and safety issues that need to be guided by an improved understanding of low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation health effects and with identifying the essential elements of a low-dose radiation program as well as with addressing coordination with other entities. The complete Statement of Task is shown in Box S.1.
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and those impacted by nuclear waste cleanup activities. Appendix C provides the list of presentations the committee received during its information-gathering meetings, and these presentations and meeting recordings are posted on the National Academies website for open access.18 In addition to these information-gathering meetings, several committee members attended scientific meetings organized by other entities that addressed low-dose radiation issues including the Radiation Research Society's annual meeting and webinars organized by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, NASA's Human Research Program Space Radiation Quality Workshop, the International Society of Radiation Epidemiology and Dosimetry, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the National Academies.
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provides background information on low dose radiation exposures to the U.S. population, the history of the low-dose radiation research program, and the study request.
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