Sir, - My letter of May 9th drew attention to a recent United Nations scientific report that confirmed the absence in humankind of a connection between exposure to ionising radiation and health effects among the descendants of those exposed. I wrote the letter because there seemed to be widespread misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the expert scientific evidence presented in this report.
The very day the letter was published news broke that Israeli and Ukrainian scientists had found evidence of genetic effects among children born to the Chernobyl "liquidators" - the term given to those who fought the fire and cleaned up after the accident.
This new evidence may be well based and become accepted among scientific peers, but until it is thoroughly reviewed by peers I believe it would be premature to accept it as "gospel". If it is accepted then there will be serious implications, for example, in the use of ionising radiation in therapeutic and, possibly, diagnostic medical procedures.
I thank Danny Thompson for drawing my attention to this new work (May 15th). He refers to me as "a well-known advocate of nuclear power". My position regarding nuclear power may be found in published literature, but briefly it is that nuclear power at present is not safe enough; however, new designs of fission nuclear power plants could be. In the near future they could contribute significantly in satisfying increased demand for power while complying with the requirements of sustainable development. In the more distant future fusion nuclear power could make a similar contribution. We should not dismiss these options lightly. - Yours, etc.,
Frank Turvey, Greystones, Co Wicklow.