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Better radiation exposure estimation for the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors enables us to better protect people from radiation today

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 20, pages 575–576 (2010)Cite this article

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The development of radiation dose estimates for the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors illustrates the value of exposure science in greatly increasing the precision of risk estimates and, as a result, global confidence in the details of the health impacts from ionizing radiation and the development of health-protective regulations and guidance.

After the establishment in 1947 of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Neel and Schull, 1956), several early studies were conducted. In the earliest of these, because of the lack of knowledge of a relevant exposure metric, parents were classified in terms of distance from the hypocenters of the bombs as a surrogate for radiation dose.

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Acknowledgements

The Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, is a private, nonprofit foundation funded by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare and the US Department of Energy, the latter in part through the National Academy of Sciences.

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  1. School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan

    Harry M Cullings & Kirk R Smith

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  1. Harry M Cullings
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  2. Kirk R Smith
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Correspondence to Harry M Cullings.

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Cullings, H., Smith, K. Better radiation exposure estimation for the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors enables us to better protect people from radiation today. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 20, 575–576 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2010.48

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