Long-term mortality and cancer risk in irradiated rhesus monkeys

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6553049

Wood, D H

Lifetime observations on a group of 358 rhesus monkeys indicate that life expectancy loss from exposure to protons in the energy range encountered in the Van Allen belts and solar proton events is influenced primarily by the dose rather than by the energy of radiation. After 24 years, life expectancy losses from similar surface doses of low-LET (138-2300 MeV) and high-LET (32-55 MeV) protons are not significantly different, but the high-LET protons are associated with more deaths in the early years, while the low-LET protons contribute more to mortality in later years. In males, the most significant cause of life shortening is nonleukemia cancers. In females, radiation increased the risk of endometriosis (an abnormal proliferation of the lining of the uterus) which resulted in significant mortality in the years before early detection and treatment methods were employed. The findings support the 1989 guidelines of the NCRP for maximum permissible radiation exposures in astronauts.

• Research Organization: School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, TX (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6553049
• Report Number(s): AD-A-224365/7/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560152* -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Animals
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
BARYONS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
BODY
DISEASES
DOSES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY TRANSFER
FEMALE GENITALS
FERMIONS
HADRONS
LET
LIFE SPAN
MAMMALS
MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE
MONKEYS
MORTALITY
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEONS
ORGANS
PRIMATES
PROTONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOINDUCTION
SAFETY STANDARDS
SPACE FLIGHT
STANDARDS
UTERUS
VERTEBRATES