A PLAN FOR THE STUDY OF FERTILITY OF RELATIVES OF CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM HEREDITARY AND OTHER DEFECTS

摘要

It has been assumed that the load of serious hereditary defects in human populations is maintained largely by reason of new mutations which occur in each generation. Present estimates of the increase in the load, which would be expected from radiation-induced increases in mutation rate, are based on this belief.nHowever, it is recognized that the assumption represents an over-simplification, and that it could lead to an error of unknown magnitude in the estimate of damage. An increased fertility in apparently unaffected carriers of the genes for defects may well be a major factor in maintaining the incidence of the defects. If this is the case, it will be necessary to re-assess the estimates of genetic damage from radiation.