Hereditary Effects. Some facts about the hereditary effects of radiation: • Exposure of a population can cause adverse health effects in the descendants as a consequence of mutations induced in germ cells. • Hereditary diseases are classified into three principal categories: Mendelian, chromosomal, and multifactorial. • Radiation does not produce new, unique mutations but increases the incidence of the same mutations that occur spontaneously. • Information on the hereditary effects of radiation comes almost entirely from animal experiments. If one of the reproductive cells (either the sperm or the ovum) is damaged by ionizing radiation, there is a chance that this damage may affect either the immediate child or subsequent generations. This type of effect is therefore known as a hereditary effect. Hereditary effects are based on chance and hence are stochastic. However, the risk of hereditary effects is much lower than the risk of cancer. Experimental studies on plants and animals have shown that hereditary effects can occur after exposure to large doses of radiation. However, there have been no cases identified in humans where radiation has resulted in hereditary effects. Note ! Hereditary effects from exposure to ionizing radiation have not been identified in humans.
