Assessment of the scientific information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program / Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program, Board on Radiation Effects Research, Division on Earth and Life Studies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

National Research Council (U.S.). Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

United States.

Nuclear weapons--United States--Testing.

Nuclear weapons.

Radiation dosimetry.

Radiation--Physiological effect--Research--United States.

Radiation.

Radiation--Safety measures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (429 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Radiation exposure screening and education program

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was set up by Congress in 1990 to compensate people who have been diagnosed with specified cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to nuclear-weapons tests at various U.S. test sites. Eligible claimants include civilian onsite participants, downwinders who lived in areas currently designated by RECA, and uranium workers and ore transporters who meet specified residence or exposure criteria. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the screening, education, and referral services program for RECA populations, asked the National Academies to review its program and assess whether new scientific information could be used to improve its program and determine if additional populations or geographic areas should be covered under RECA. The report recommends Congress should establish a new science-based process using a method called "probability of causation/assigned share" (PC/AS) to determine eligibility for compensation. Because fallout may have been higher for people outside RECA-designated areas, the new PC/AS process should apply to all residents of the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas US territories who have been diagnosed with specific RECA-compensable diseases and who may have been exposed, even in utero, to radiation from U.S. nuclear-weapons testing fallout. However, because the risks of radiation-induced disease are generally low at the exposure levels of concern in RECA populations, in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout was a substantial contributing cause of cancer.

Contents:

""Front Matter""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Reviewers""; ""A Note on the Units of Measurement Used in this Report""; ""Contents""; ""Executive Summary""; ""1 Introduction""; ""2 Legislation and Compensation""; ""3 Basic Concepts in Radiation Physics, Biology, and Epidemiology""; ""4 Review of Recent Data on Radiation Epidemiology, Biology, and Dosimetry""; ""5 Expanding RECA Eligibility: Scientific Issues""; ""6 Expanding RECA Eligibility: Implementation""; ""7 Diseases, Populations, and Other Issues of Public Concern""; ""8 Ethical Framework""; ""9 Medical Screening""

""10 Screening for Compensation""""11 Education and Outreach""; ""References""; ""Appendixes""; ""Appendix A Invited Speakers and Public Comment""; ""Appendix B A Comparison of the Risk of Skin Cancer with the Risk of Lung Cancer from Exposure to Radon Decay Products in Underground Mines""; ""Appendix C Radioactivity in Guam After Nuclear- Weapons Testing in the Pacific""; ""Appendix D The Optimal Criterion for Positivity in Screening""; ""Appendix E Selected Cancer-Screening Recommendations""; ""Glossary""; ""List of Abbreviations""; ""Committee and Staff Biographies""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9786610742141

9780309165143

0309165148

9781280742149

1280742143

9780309549318

0309549310

OCLC:

61505165