This study, which was published recently in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, reports research done by Weinberg and ten co-authors from Israel and Ukraine on the effect of parental exposure to ionising radiation on the DNA of the offspring of Chernobyl liquidators.

The research involved the use of rapid molecular genetic screening methods on the DNA to detect mutations. Children born to parents of whom one at least had been exposed to radiation during the `cleanup' following the Chernobyl accident were examined using this method. The subject children were divided into two groups: those conceived before the accident (controls) and their younger siblings conceived afterwards (cohorts).

The authors report an unexpectedly high (seven-fold) increase in the number of DNA mutations among children conceived after parental exposure over those in the their older siblings who were conceived before the accident. The authors conclude that `low doses of radiation can induce multiple changes in the human germline DNA'.

A comment from NRPB may be found on the internet at: www.nrpb.org.uk./Advice/Chern-lq.htm. Its bottom line is that considerable uncertainty surrounds the interpretation of the new data reported by Weinberg et al and therefore it is suggested that, for radiological purposes, reliance should continue to be placed upon the assessment of functional genetic changes in humans and mice.