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JCO Early Release, published online ahead of print Jun 26 2006 Journal of Clinical Oncology, 10.1200/JCO.2005.03.3126 Effect of Chest X-Rays on the Risk of Breast Cancer Among BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers in the International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study Nadine Andrieu and others. Purpose: Women who carry germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are at greatly increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Numerous studies have shown that moderate to high doses of ionizing radiation are a risk factor for BC. Because of the role of the BRCA proteins in DNA repair, we hypothesized that BRCA carriers might be more sensitive...

WASHINGTON – Even very low doses of radiation pose a risk of cancer over a person's lifetime, a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded Wednesday. It rejected some scientists' arguments that tiny doses are harmless or may in fact be beneficial. The findings could influence the maximum radiation levels that are allowed at abandoned reactors and other nuclear sites. The conclusions also raise warnings about excessive exposure to radiation for medical purposes such as repeated whole-body CT scans. "It is unlikely that there is a threshold (of radiation exposure) below which cancers are not induced," scientists said in the report....

At a glance: SV40 is a virus found in some species of monkey. Soon after its discovery in 1960, SV40 was found in polio vaccine. Over 98 million Americans received one or more doses of polio vaccine during the period (1955-1963) when some of the vaccine was contaminated with SV40. SV40 has been found in certain types of human cancers, but it has not been determined that SV40 causes these cancers. The majority of evidence suggests there is no causal relationship between receipt of SV40-contaminated vaccine and cancer; however, some research results are conflicting and more studies are needed.