Genetic Effects in Populations: With Special Reference to Studies in Man, Including ABCC Results

The results of human population surveys bearing on the possible genetic effects of radiation exposure are reviewed, including data obtained by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission from studies in Japan. Relevant kinds of information have been derived from both irradiated and unirradiated populations. The possible designs of future surveys are considered with a view to achieving a higher order of precision than has been possible in thepast. Such precision must depend, in part, on an increased availability of family reproductive and mortality data of certain specific sorts. An important component of the needed information already exists, accurately recorded and virtually complete for large populations, but in a form that renders it largely in accessible to scientific study. Attention must now be directed to the technical and organizational problems of extracting this information in an appropriate and usable form. (auth)