The program is directed at the synthesis and extension of existing knowledge of the carcinogenic effects of ionizing radiation. The activities of the Branch are coordinated with those of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch and the Radiation Effects Branch. Both Dr. Miller and Dr. Beebe have been extensively involved over the years in the research on the atomic-bomb survivors in Japan and draw heavily on that experience in lectures, consultations, and scientific articles on radiogenic cancer. Recent foci of interest include variation in individual sensitivity to the carcinogenic action of ionizing radiation, time-response characteristics of radiogenic cancers, the contrast between low- and high-linear energy transfer (LET) radiation with respect to their influence on liver cancer, the likelihood that important new knowledge might come from properly designed studies of the post-Chernobyl experience in the USSR, how to reach a Federal consensus on risk estimates for radiogenic cancer that would serve the needs of the regulatory agencies, consultation with the Radiation Effects Branch, NCI, on the studies of leukemia and thyroid cancer in relation to fallout from the weapons tests in Nevada, and whether it would be prudent to do some advance planning for research that might be carried out following a nuclear power plant disaster in the U.S.
