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PETBioNewsNewsNew genetic study of atom bomb survivors

BioNews

New genetic study of atom bomb survivors

Published 9 June 2009 posted in News and appears in BioNews 89

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BioNews

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.

US and Japanese scientists are launching a new study into the long-term effects of radiation on the genes of children born to atom bomb survivors in Japan. The research will focus on diseases with a genetic component that do not usually show up until adulthood, such as diabetes and heart...

US and Japanese scientists are launching a new study into the long-term effects of radiation on the genes of children born to atom bomb survivors in Japan. The research will focus on diseases with a genetic component that do not usually show up until adulthood, such as diabetes and heart disease, reports last week's issue of Nature.


The research will be carried out by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), a non-profit organisation jointly funded by the US and Japan. RERF found no long-term genetic effects in previous studies of around 80,000 children born to atom bomb survivors between 1946 and 1984. But research director Seymour Abrahamson says this result could be due to the limitations of the studies themselves, which were mainly based on observations of stillbirths and abnormalities in children under a year old. He believes that radiation effects could still show up as an increased incidence of late-onset genetic genetic disorders, which would not be apparent in childhood. 'We have to close the circle' he says.


Reactions to RERF's planned study have been mixed - some potential subjects feel that evidence of a long-term genetic effect could lead to discrimination. But others hope that a proven link between ill-health and radiation could result in compensation from the government. Abrahamson says the study will take between four to six years to complete.

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Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
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1 April 2011 • 1 minute read

Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant to be offered stem cell banking

by Dr Charlotte Maden

At the Fukushima nuclear plant affected by the recent earthquake in Japan, workers have been attempting to fix the damage to the reactors, despite potentially high levels of radioactive contamination. As a result, the workers may now be invited to bank their stem cells for future treatment should they become ill....

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