People: Who Faced Atomic Bomb

The study of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to provide very useful information on the effects of radiation on man. Recently doctors examined 2452 atomic bomb survivors who got exposed to different radiation. They also evaluated the incidence of cancer in 15388 persons who were younger than 6 years at the time of bombing. Both groups belonged to the age range of 12-55 for the period of 1955-1999.
They reported dose related increase in the incidence of solid cancers in both groups. Scientist knew that radiation exposure increases risk of childhood cancers and exposure in childhood is associated with increased risk of adult cancers. But until now they knew little about whether in utero-radiation exposure leads to increased risk of adult cancersWhen US aircraft dropped the bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki had an estimated population of 310000 and 250000 respectively. About 90000-140000 people in Hiroshima and 60000-80000 in Nagasaki died immediately or within two to four month. In 1950 Japanese national census, nearly 280000 persons stated that they had been exposed in two cities. The death in areas of about one kilometer diameter is attributable to the effect of explosion and heat. Till 1990 RERF recorded 7827 cancer deaths among the 86572 persons who, the RERF included in its Life Span Study cohort. Scientists estimated that about 850 out of 17448 solid cancers recorded during 1958-1998 may be due to radiation exposure.