Basic Knowledge on the Food-related Health Risk Assessment

This figure shows epidemiological data on which the Food-related Health Risk Assessment was based.

There was a study report that the increased cancer risk by radiation was not observed among persons exposed to radiation exceeding 500 mSv in total in areas in India where natural radiation doses are high (p.124 of Vol. 1, “Effects of Long-Term Low-Dose Exposure”).

The data on atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki shows that the risk of leukemia mortality increased for the population exposed to radiation exceeding 200 mSv but that there was no statistically significant difference in the mortality risk between the populations exposed to radiation less than 200 mSv and not exposed to radiation (p.119 of Vol. 1, “Risks of Developing Leukemia”).

Another report which analyzed the same data of atomic bomb survivors shows that for the population exposed to radiation from 0 to 125 mSv, it was statistically confirmed that the risk of cancer mortality increases as the exposure dose increases. However, for the population exposed to radiation from 0 to 100 mSv, no statistically significant difference was observed between radiation doses and the mortality risk. Based on these data, the result of the Food-related Health Risk Assessment was derived.

• Included in this reference material on March 31, 2013