-6RADIATION EXPOSURE AND DEGENERATIVE DISEASES
In a 1975 study of physician radiologists
of Epidemiology, Vol.
101, No.
3, pp.
(American Journal
199-210), Matanoski, et al.,
found a significantly higher cancer and leukemia incidence rate
among those physician specialists who were accidentally exposed
to x-rays during treatment.
This finding is important because
x-rayS are very similar to gamma rays, one of the types of
radiation atomic veterans were exposed to.
In addition to cancer and leukemia, radiologists in the
study by
Matanoski developed a plethora of diseases having statistical
Significance,
including diabetes,
and hypertension.
cardiovascular disease,
stroke,
Interestingly, Matanoski noted an age-related
gradient in relation to the incidence of disease:
there were more
diseases among older radiologists than among youncer radiologists.
This, says Matanoski, is probably due to refinements in the x-ray
procedure over the decades.
In another interesting and quite relevant study, Elkeles
(Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,
No.
4, pp.
179-82)
1977, Vol.
XXV,
discovered a close relationship between
atherosclerosis and ingestion of alpha particles,
Atheroscler-
osis is a form of arteriosclerosis in which fatty substances
deposit in the inner walls of the arteries and can lead to
cardiovascular disease and heart problems.
The sioanificance
of the Elkeles study is that it demonstrates a significant
causal link between ingestion of alpha radiation and cardiovascular disease.
This is especially important in light of
the fact that an untold number of the 250,000 atomic veterans