-oCHROMOSOME ABERRATIONS AND POSSIBLE GENETIC EFECTS OF RADIATION Several studies among exposed populations have strongly suggested a direct link between exposure to ionizing radiation and chromosome and genetic damage. As early as 1925 reports began to surface about the illeffects associated with the ingestion of radium and other radioactive materials among the women who were formerly employed as luminous-dial painters, In a February 12th, 1966 issue of the British Medical Journal, J.T. Boyd, et al., concluded that there was a linear dose-response between the intake of radium and chromosome abnormality among the radium-dial painters. Likewise, a linear dose-response between exposure to ionizing radiation and chromosome aberration was noted among former dockyard workers who handled radioactive substances. article in Nature In an ("Radiation-Induced Chromosome Aberrations in Nuclear-Dockyard Workers," Volume 277, February 15, 1979, pp. 531-34), H.J. Bates, et al. studied a group of workers who were exposed to neutron and gamma radiation during the refueling of nuclear reactors. His research indicates that most exposures were below the internationally accepted maximum permissible level of 5 rem per year, and that there was a significant incidence of chromosome aberration in peripheral blood lymphocytes ten years after their exposure. In the 26-Year medical follow-up study of the Marshall Islanders who were exposed to radioactive fallout, researchers for the Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that at least 50% of the exposed Marshallese have manif ested a rare form