28 March 2011 CHE Partnership Call: Radiation and Human Health: In the Shadow of the Japan Disaster.

Radiation has long been identified as a serious risk factor in various human diseases. Previous disasters at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island have highlighted the risks and fears, but now another tragedy has occurred, with implications yet to be determined. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the resultant ongoing struggles to contain radiation released from reactors there, has brought radiation to the forefront again. What are the primary risks to human health, of both acute high-level and lower-level exposures? Are there scientifically valid strategies for minimizing harm in those exposed? And how might such disasters best be avoided in the future? This call featured two leading experts on these issues, with opportunity for some questions and answers.