FEATURE ARTICLE
Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks
Exposures 50 years ago still have health implications today that will continue into the future
Steven Simon, André Bouville, Charles Land
By the early 1960s there was no place on Earth where the signature
of atmospheric nuclear testing could not be found by analysis of
residual radioactivity in soil, water and even polar ice. Cancer
researchers have likewise been searching for the signature of
nuclear testing—but as an increase in cancer rates. After
decades of study, investigators have been able to quantify such
risks—albeit with a significant amount of
uncertainty—and have even developed a Web-based calculator
that allows U.S. residents to estimate their risk of developing
thyroid cancer as a result of exposure to iodine-131. The authors
explain how, and how much, radioactive fallout has affected cancer
risk and review what the results may tell us about the threat of
radioactive terrorism.
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