ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES TO IONIZING RADIATION

室内氡是世界上辐射暴露的主要来源。 这可能是肺癌的一个重要原因。 一个最近 一项在密苏里州完成的病例对照研究测量了氡浓度 在700名女性肺癌病例和700名 对照 在中国甘肃，居民生活在地下 氡水平相对较高的住宅，一项病例对照研究 肺癌、氡和空气污染的研究已经开始。 一 肺癌与室内氡的病例对照研究荟萃分析 表明室内氡的风险不太可能更大 比预测的地下矿工的风险要高， 被确定为人类致癌物。 切尔诺贝利核反应堆事故最严重的健康影响 在前苏联，甲状腺疾病的空前增加， 儿童癌症。 与能源部合作， 目前正在对15000名来自事故的放射性核素的暴露进行评估， 白俄罗斯的儿童和乌克兰的5万名儿童， 每年进行甲状腺检查、实验室检查和面谈。 沿着俄罗斯捷恰河沿岸的村民们 暴露在高放射性废物的环境污染中。 癌症死亡率正在一个约28，000人的队列中进行评估 接受大剂量慢性外部和内部 从马亚克核电站倾倒入河中的废物产生的辐射。

Indoor radon is a major source of radiation exposure to the world's population and may be an important cause of lung cancer. A recently completed case-control study in Missouri measured radon concentrations in current and former homes of 700 female lung cancer cases and 700 controls. In Gansu, China where inhabitants live in underground dwellings having relatively high levels of radon, a case-control study of lung cancer, radon and air pollution has been initiated. A meta-analysis of case-control studies of lung cancer and indoor radon indicates that the risk from indoor radon is not likely to be greater than the risk predicted from undergound miners, in whom radon has been established as a human carcinogen. The most dramatic health effect of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in the former Soviet Union is the unprecedented increase in thyroid cancer among children. In collaboration with the Department of Energy, exposure to radionuclides from the accident is being evaluated in 15,000 children in Belarus and 50,000 children in the Ukraine who are undergoing annual thyroid examination, laboratory tests and interviews. Villagers living along the banks of the Techa River in Russia were exposed to environmental contamination from high-level radioactive waste. Cancer mortality is being evaluated in a cohort of approximately 28,000 people who received large doses of chronic external and internal radiation from waste dumped into the river from the Mayak nuclear plant.