Effects of Radiation on Workers

The subject of discussion is, in its medical aspects, one on which much work has been done, and many of the findings are equally applicable to the problems of industry. The work to which I will for the most part refer in this paper is largely that of others—David Goodfellow on the hæmatological aspects; J. R. Nuttall in regard to protection problems. The first question which we have to ask ourselves is—what risks of permanent damage are run by workers in radium and X ray, whether in the commercial or medical fields? It should be stated from the outset quite bluntly that continued over-exposure can result in serious damage to health, or in death. Deleterious effects may be caused comparatively early in a career of over-exposure. At that stage they are easily recovered from if matters be attended to. Or they may represent the late results of long continued exposure; at this stage they are usually fatal. I would like to deal with the late results first. They are three in number:— First: the development of warty growths on the hands and fingers of workers receiving local exposure. These later become epithelioma. Second: anæmia of a lethal type, resulting from general exposure to γ rays, or from ingestion of radium. Third: the development of tumours in the body itself, i.e., bones and lungs, consequent on ingestion or aspiration of radioactive substances.