The hazards from the increasing use of ionizing radiations. III. An attempt to assess the genetic changes resulting from the irradiation of human populations.

Abstract

The amount of radiation from artificial sources to which the average person is now exposed in this country will increase the natural mutation rate by a small fraction only. The effects of the new mutations will not be measurable, but nevertheless they are expected, if artificial radiation continues at its present rate for a generation, to lead to premature death or sterility of a few hundreds or possibly thousands of individuals in the next generation alone, and to comparable numbers in later generations for hundreds of years. Meanwhile a much larger section of the population will be living at an additional slight disadvantage. No satisfactory means of curing or alleviating the damage appears to be in sight.