Even low doses of ionising radiation that nuclear industry workers typically receive are associated with an increased risk of cancer. In a retrospective cohort study, Cardis and colleagues (p 77) monitored 407 391 nuclear industry workers in 15 countries for external radiation, with a total follow-up of 5.2 million person years. From these results they estimated that 1-2% of deaths from cancer among workers in this cohort are attributable to radiation. These estimates are higher than the risk estimates used for current radiation protection standards.
Figure 1.
Credit: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/GETTY