A recent laboratory study at prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology concludes that prolonged radiation exposures up to 400 times natural background pose no genetic risk. This presents serious questions relative to the exposure limits used for nuclear accident evacuations…are the standards set way too low? Is the psychological damage of having ultra-conservative evacuation “trigger points” worth keeping the exposure limits where they are? In America, exposures eight times background are recommended as the evacuation standard. In Japan, no comparable guideline exists. Government exposure evacuation standards fluctuate with the politically expedient winds that blow across the island nation. Before the Fukushima crisis, it was assumed that Japan’s natural background was 1 millisievert/yr. The MIT study shows that backgrounds 400X higher (400 mSv/yr) doesn’t cause irreparable genetic damage, and regulatory limits for evacuation should be reconsidered. But, don’t just take my word for it. Check it out…
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/prolonged-radiation-exposure-0515.html
