Editing Radioactive decay (section)

===Radiation protection===
{{main|Radiation protection}}
{{see also|Sievert|Ionizing radiation}}
Only a year after [[Wilhelm Röntgen|Röntgen]]'s discovery of X-rays, the American engineer [[Wolfram Conrad Fuchs|Wolfram Fuchs]] (1896) gave what is probably the first protection advice, but it was not until 1925 that the first [[International Congress of Radiology]] (ICR) was held and considered establishing international protection standards. The effects of radiation on genes, including the effect of cancer risk, were recognized much later. In 1927, [[Hermann Joseph Muller]] published research showing genetic effects and, in 1946, was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for his findings.

The second ICR was held in Stockholm in 1928 and proposed the adoption of the [[Roentgen (unit)|röntgen]] unit, and the [[International X-ray and Radium Protection Committee]] (IXRPC) was formed. [[Rolf Maximilian Sievert|Rolf Sievert]] was named chairman, but a driving force was [[G. W. C. Kaye|George Kaye]] of the British [[National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)|National Physical Laboratory]]. The committee met in 1931, 1934, and 1937.

After [[World War II]], the increased range and quantity of radioactive substances being handled as a result of military and civil nuclear programs led to large groups of occupational workers and the public being potentially exposed to harmful levels of ionising radiation. This was considered at the first post-war ICR convened in London in 1950, when the present [[International Commission on Radiological Protection]] (ICRP) was born.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Clarke|first=R.H.|author2=J. Valentin|title=The History of ICRP and the Evolution of its Policies|journal=Annals of the ICRP|year=2009|volume=39|series=ICRP Publication 109|issue=1|pages=75–110|doi=10.1016/j.icrp.2009.07.009|s2cid=71278114|url=http://www.icrp.org/docs/The%20History%20of%20ICRP%20and%20the%20Evolution%20of%20its%20Policies.pdf|access-date=12 May 2012}}</ref>
Since then the ICRP has developed the present international system of radiation protection, covering all aspects of radiation hazards.

In 2020, Hauptmann and another 15 international researchers from eight nations (among them: Institutes of Biostatistics, Registry Research, Centers of Cancer Epidemiology, Radiation Epidemiology, and also the [[National Cancer Institute|U.S. National Cancer Institute]] (NCI), [[International Agency for Research on Cancer]] (IARC) and the [[Radiation Effects Research Foundation|Radiation Effects Research Foundation of Hiroshima]]) studied definitively through [[meta-analysis]] the damage resulting from the "low doses" that have afflicted survivors of the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] and also in numerous [[Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents|accidents at nuclear plants]] that have occurred. These scientists reported, in ''JNCI Monographs: Epidemiological Studies of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation and Cancer Risk'', that the new epidemiological studies directly support excess cancer risks from low-dose ionizing radiation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Daniels |first1=M. |display-authors=et al. |title=Epidemiological Studies of Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation and Cancer: Summary Bias Assessment and Meta-Analysis.|journal=J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr|volume=56 |issue=July 1 |year=2020 |pages=188–200|issn=1434-6001 |doi=10.1093/jncimonographs/lgaa010|pmid=32657347 |pmc=8454205 }}</ref> In 2021, Italian researcher Sebastiano Venturi reported the first correlations between radio-caesium and [[pancreatic cancer]] with the role of [[caesium]] in biology, in pancreatitis and in diabetes of pancreatic origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Venturi |first1=Sebastiano |title=Cesium in Biology, Pancreatic Cancer, and Controversy in High and Low Radiation Exposure Damage – Scientific, Environmental, Geopolitical, and Economic Aspects |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |date=January 2021 |volume=18 |issue=17 |pages=8934 | pmid=34501532 |doi=10.3390/ijerph18178934 |pmc=8431133 |language=en|doi-access=free }}  [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]]  Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].</ref>