Skip Navigation

Occupational Medicine 2006 56(3):155; doi:10.1093/occmed/kql009
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kalman, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kalman, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

IN-DEPTH REVIEW

Ionizing radiation: overview

Chris Kalman

NHS Lothian Occupational Health and Safety Services, Morelands, Astley Ainslie Hospital, 133 Grange Loan, Edinburgh EH9 2HB, UK

Correspondence to: Chris Kalman, NHS Lothian Occupational Health and Safety Services, Morelands, Astley Ainslie Hospital, 133 Grange Loan, Edinburgh EH9 2HB, UK. e-mail: chris.kalman{at}lpct.scot.nhs.uk

Few hazards are able to match ionizing radiation in their capacity to attract media interest or generate public and worker concern. The inclusion of a radiological dimension in consideration of a terrorist threat has raised this profile and provides an important backdrop to this review. The last 10 years have seen new developments in radiation science, some of which are already affecting practice in the areas such as treatment of radiation injury. The importance of others and their future effects on systems of radiation protection have yet to be fully evaluated.

The role of the occupational physician is to provide advice to employers, in areas such as radiation health, health aspects of contingency planning as well as radiation health advice to the worker, both for routine and accidental exposures. These roles require awareness of radiation science and developments in the field. In addition, it is clear that the public will seek advice and information from occupational physicians acknowledged as health professionals with expert knowledge in this area.

Radiobiology is a young science, but ionizing radiations represent some of the most studied human hazards. The complex information produced is kept under review by international groups such as the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), whose recommendations establish the systems of radiation protection for both workers and the public. ICRP recommendations are incorporated into European directives and subsequently into UK statutory instruments [1–3].

A brief summary of current systems, and some relevant ionizing radiation background information, is available as Supplementary data at Occupational Medicine Online, to assist readers in their use of the expert sections.

This review presents the following expert sections.

  1. New advances in radiation biology: K. Prise of the Gray Laboratory.
  2. Medical management of radiation injuries: current approaches: M. Berger et al. Radiation Emergency Advice Centre/Training Site team based at Oakridge Tennessee.
  3. Occupational exposure, epidemiology and compensation: R. Wakeford at British Nuclear Fuels plc.
  4. Intervention in the event of radiation emergency: M. Morrey at the Health Protection Agency, UK.


   New ICRP thinking
Top
 New ICRP thinking
Conflicts of interest
 References
 
There are a number of discussions ongoing in relation to the next set of ICRP recommendations. For the occupational physician, some of the most important proposals are as follows:

(i) Retention of the linear proportionate dose relationship for stochastic effects.
(ii) Knowledge of roles of genetic instability, bystander cell signaling and adaptive response in the genesis of radiation-induced health effects is insufficiently well developed for radiation protection purposes.
(iii) Genetic susceptibility to radiation-induced cancer involving strongly expressed genes is rare.
(iv) Optimization determines the need for work- or practice-specific dose constraints, with work-specific maximum levels of doses for particular activities being established by stakeholder consensus rather than regulation.


   Conflicts of interest
Top
 New ICRP thinking
 Conflicts of interest
References
 
None declared.


   References
Top
 New ICRP thinking
 Conflicts of interest
 References
 

  1. International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 60. 1990 Recommendations of ICRP. Annals of the ICRP 1991;21:1–3.[Medline]

  2. European Council Directive 96/29 Euratom. Basic Safety Standards for the protection of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations, 13 May 1996.

  3. Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. UK Statutory Instruments.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kalman, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kalman, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?