Response to Tsuda et al. "demonstrating the undermining of science and health policy after the Fukushima nuclear accident by applying the toolkit for detecting misused epidemiological methods".

Background: The SHAMISEN (Nuclear Emergency Situations - Improvement of Medical And Health Surveillance) European project was conducted in 2015-2017 to review the lessons learned from the experience of past nuclear accidents and develop recommendations for preparedness and health surveillance of populations affected by a nuclear accident. Using a toolkit approach, Tsuda et al. recently published a critical review of the article by Cléro et al.

Lessons learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima on thyroid cancer screening and recommendations in case of a future nuclear accident.

Exposure of the thyroid gland to ionizing radiation at a young age is the main recognized risk factor for differentiated thyroid cancer. After the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents, thyroid cancer screening was implemented mainly for children, leading to case over-diagnosis as seen in South Korea after the implementation of opportunistic screening (where subjects are recruited at healthcare sites). The aim of cancer screening is to reduce morbidity and mortality, but screening can also cause negative effects on health (with unnecessary treatment if over-diagnosis) and on quality of life.

Establishing the Japan-Store house of animal radiobiology experiments (J-SHARE), a large-scale necropsy and histopathology archive providing international access to important radiobiology data.

Projects evaluating the effects of radiation, within the National Institutes of Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), have focused on risk analyses for life shortening and cancer prevalence using laboratory animals. Genetic and epigenetic alterations in radiation-induced tumors have been also analyzed with the aim of better understanding mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis. As well as the economic and practical limitations of repeating such large-scale experiments, ethical considerations make it vital that we store and share the pathological data and samples of the animal experiments for future use.

Big data in radiation biology and epidemiology; an overview of the historical and contemporary landscape of data and biomaterial archives.

Over the past 60 years a great number of very large datasets have been generated from the experimental exposure of animals to external radiation and internal contamination. This accumulation of 'big data' has been matched by increasingly large epidemiological studies from accidental and occupational radiation exposure, and from plants, humans and other animals affected by environmental contamination. We review the creation, sustainability and reuse of this legacy data, and discuss the importance of Open data and biomaterial archives for contemporary radiobiological sciences, radioecology and epidemiology.

The State Scientific Automated Medical Registry, Kazakhstan: an important resource for low-dose radiation health research.

Direct quantitative assessment of health risks following exposure to ionizing radiation is based on findings from epidemiological studies. Populations affected by nuclear bomb testing are among those that allow such assessment. The population living around the former Soviet Union's Semipalatinsk nuclear test site is one of the largest human cohorts exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons tests.

Typical doses and dose rates in studies pertinent to radiation risk inference at low doses and low dose rates.

In order to quantify radiation risks at exposure scenarios relevant for radiation protection, often extrapolation of data obtained at high doses and high dose rates down to low doses and low dose rates is needed. Task Group TG91 on 'Radiation Risk Inference at Low-dose and Low-dose Rate Exposure for Radiological Protection Purposes' of the International Commission on Radiological Protection is currently reviewing the relevant cellular, animal and human studies that could be used for that purpose. This paper provides an overview of dose rates and doses typically used or present in those studies, and compares them with doses and dose rates typical of those received by the A-bomb survivors in Japan.

The Krümmel (Germany) Childhood Leukaemia Cluster: a review and update.

The debate surrounding possible adverse health effects from the civil use of nuclear power under normal operating conditions has been on-going since its introduction. It was particularly intensified by the detection of three leukaemia clusters near nuclear installations, i.e.

Background gamma radiation and childhood cancer in Germany: an ecological study.

The relationship of low-dose background gamma radiation and childhood leukaemia was investigated in a number of studies. Results from these studies are inconclusive. Therefore, in the present study 25 years of German childhood cancer data were analyzed using interpolated background annual gamma dose rate per community in an ecological study.

[Effects on health of the Chernobyl accident: 30 years on].

This paper reflects the current state of research into the short- and long-term effects on health in the former Soviet Union and Europe of the nuclear accident in Chernobyl. It discusses the latest results of epidemiological studies and presents future research perspectives.

Modeling Lung Carcinogenesis in Radon-Exposed Miner Cohorts: Accounting for Missing Information on Smoking.

Epidemiological miner cohort data used to estimate lung cancer risks related to occupational radon exposure often lack cohort-wide information on exposure to tobacco smoke, a potential confounder and important effect modifier. We have developed a method to project data on smoking habits from a case-control study onto an entire cohort by means of a Monte Carlo resampling technique. As a proof of principle, this method is tested on a subcohort of 35,084 former uranium miners employed at the WISMUT company (Germany), with 461 lung cancer deaths in the follow-up period 1955-1998.

The German Thorotrast Cohort Study: a review and how to get access to the data.

It is well known that exposures like those from (226)Ra, (224)Ra and Thorotrast(®) injections increase the risk of neoplasia in bone marrow and liver. The thorium-based radioactive contrast agent Thorotrast(®) was introduced in 1929 and applied worldwide until the 1950s, especially in angiography and arteriography. Due to the extremely long half-life of several hundred years and the life-long retention of the thorium dioxide particles in the human body, patients suffer lifetime internal exposure.

Dose and dose-rate effects of ionizing radiation: a discussion in the light of radiological protection.

The biological effects on humans of low-dose and low-dose-rate exposures to ionizing radiation have always been of major interest. The most recent concept as suggested by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is to extrapolate existing epidemiological data at high doses and dose rates down to low doses and low dose rates relevant to radiological protection, using the so-called dose and dose-rate effectiveness factor (DDREF). The present paper summarizes what was presented and discussed by experts from ICRP and Japan at a dedicated workshop on this topic held in May 2015 in Kyoto, Japan.

Studies of Health Effects from Nuclear Testing near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, Kazakhstan.

The nuclear bomb testing conducted at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan is of great importance for today's radiation protection research, particularly in the area of low dose exposures. This type of radiation is of particular interest due to the lack of research in this field and how it impacts population health. In order to understand the possible health effects of nuclear bomb testing, it is important to determine what studies have been conducted on the effects of low dose exposure and dosimetry, and evaluate new epidemiologic data and biological material collected from populations living in proximity to the test site.

Methods for Ensuring High Quality of Coding of Cause of Death. The Mortality Register to Follow Southern Urals Populations Exposed to Radiation.

Background: To follow up populations exposed to several radiation accidents in the Southern Urals, a cause-of-death registry was established at the Urals Center capturing deaths in the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk region since 1950.

Objectives: When registering deaths over such a long time period, quality measures need to be in place to maintain quality and reduce the impact of individual coders as well as quality changes in death certificates.

Methods: To ensure the uniformity of coding, a method for semi-automatic coding was developed, which is described here.

Joint research towards a better radiation protection-highlights of the Fifth MELODI Workshop.

MELODI is the European platform dedicated to low-dose radiation risk research. From 7 October through 10 October 2013 the Fifth MELODI Workshop took place in Brussels, Belgium. The workshop offered the opportunity to 221 unique participants originating from 22 countries worldwide to update their knowledge and discuss radiation research issues through 118 oral and 44 poster presentations.

A review of the results from the German Wismut uranium miners cohort.

The Wismut cohort is currently the largest single study on the health risks associated with occupational exposures to ionising radiation and dust accrued during activities related to uranium mining. The cohort has ∼59 000 male workers, first employed between 1946 and 1989, at the Wismut Company in Germany. The main effect is a statistically significant increase in mortality from lung cancer with both increasing cumulative radon exposure and silica dust exposure.

Childhood leukaemia risks: from unexplained findings near nuclear installations to recommendations for future research.

Recent findings related to childhood leukaemia incidence near nuclear installations have raised questions which can be answered neither by current knowledge on radiation risk nor by other established risk factors. In 2012, a workshop was organised on this topic with two objectives: (a) review of results and discussion of methodological limitations of studies near nuclear installations; (b) identification of directions for future research into the causes and pathogenesis of childhood leukaemia. The workshop gathered 42 participants from different disciplines, extending widely outside of the radiation protection field.

National radon programmes and policies: the RADPAR recommendations.

Results from epidemiological studies on lung cancer and radon exposure in dwellings and mines led to a significant revision of recommendations and regulations of international organisations, such as WHO, IAEA, Nordic Countries, European Commission. Within the European project RADPAR, scientists from 18 institutions of 14 European countries worked together for 3 y (2009-12). Among other reports, a comprehensive booklet of recommendations was produced with the aim that they should be useful both for countries with a well-developed radon programme and for countries with little experience on radon issues.

State of the art in research into the risk of low dose radiation exposure--findings of the fourth MELODI workshop.

The fourth workshop of the Multidisciplinary European Low Dose Initiative (MELODI) was organised by STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland. It took place from 12 to 14 September 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. The meeting was attended by 179 scientists and professionals engaged in radiation research and radiation protection.

[The Fukushima nuclear accident: consequences for Japan and for us].

The Fukushima accident was the consequence of a preceding 2-fold natural catastrophe: the earth quake of 11 March 2011 and the subsequent tsunami. Due to favourable winds and to evacuation measures the radiation exposure to the general population in Japan as a whole and with some exceptions in the region outside the evacuation zone, too, was low. In this article the attempt is made to give an estimate of health consequences to the public.

Joint analysis of three European nested case-control studies of lung cancer among radon exposed miners: exposure restricted to below 300 WLM.

Analyses of lung cancer risk were carried out using restrictions to nested case-control data on uranium miners in the Czech Republic, France, and Germany. With the data restricted to cumulative exposures below 300 working-level-months (WLM) and adjustment for smoking status, the excess relative risk (ERR) per WLM was 0.0174 (95% CI: 0.