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Scientists comment on a French court ruling that claims cosmic radiation was a factor in an air stewardess case of breast cancer.
Prof Jim Smith, Professor of Environmental Science, University of Portsmouth, said:
“For an individual case, it is impossible to determine whether or not a cancer was caused by radiation. Current radiation protection guidance assumes that any small dose can potentially cause cancer – but the lower the dose the lower the risk. From the known cosmic ray dose to air crew, and based on this hypothesis, we might expect that air crew regularly flying at high altitudes would have a small additional risk of cancer.
“Unfortunately, cancer is a very common disease with Cancer Research UK estimating that nearly half of us will contract cancer at some point in our lives. So, at the (relatively) low radiation doses air crew are exposed to, it is difficult statistically to see increases in cancer rates due to cosmic radiation. Complications in these studies for air crew include particular lifestyle factors. For example, increased sun exposure may lead to greater skin cancer incidence and working night-shifts and irregular sleeping patterns can potentially affect a range of health outcomes including cancer.”
References:
Cancer risk statistics | Cancer Research UK
Module 3. Diseases and Shift Work | NIOSH | CDC
Declared interests
Prof Jim Smith: I have in the past (over 10 years ago) done small consultancy projects for the nuclear industry. I don’t currently do any consultancy or have any nuclear industry links. I am a Director of The Chernobyl Spirit Community Interest Company, a social enterprise supporting Ukraine with sales of ATOMIK spirits from Chernobyl affected areas.