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BOOKLET to Provide Basic Information Regarding Health Effects of Radiation (3rd edition)

Chromosomal Aberrations among Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors

Chromosomal Aberrations among Children of Atomic Bomb Survivors_Figure

Surveys of health effects on children of atomic bomb survivors examine incidence rates of serious congenital disorders, gene mutations, chromosome aberrations and cancer, as well as mortality rates from cancer or other diseases. However, no significant differences were found between the survey targets and the control group regarding any of these.

Stable chromosome aberrations do not disappear through cell divisions and are passed on from parents to their offspring. As a result of a survey targeting 8,322 children (exposed group), either or both of whose parents were exposed to radiation within 2,000 m from the center of the explosion (estimated exposure doses: 0.01 Gy or more), stable chromosome aberrations were found in 18 children. On the other hand, among 7,976 children (control group), both of whose parents were exposed to radiation at locations 2,500 m or farther from the center of the explosion (estimated exposure doses: less than 0.005 Gy) or were outside the city at the time of the atomic bombing, stable chromosome aberrations were found in 25 children.

However, a later examination of their parents and siblings revealed that most of the detected chromosome aberrations were not those newly developed but those that had already existed in either of their parents and were passed on to them. Given these, it was made clear that radiation effects, such that stable chromosome aberrations newly developed in parents' reproductive cells due to radiation exposure were passed on to the offspring, have not been found among atomic bomb survivors.
(Related to p.89 of Vol. 1, “DNA → Cells → Human Body”)

  • Included in this reference material on March 31, 2013
  • Updated on March 31, 2022
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