Application of ionizing radiation in studies of biomarkers of individual susceptibility

Humans and living organisms are unavoidably exposed to various environmental genotoxins. Genotoxic exposures may result from endogenous mutagens, (via cellular metabolic processes associated with oxygen free radical induction) or from exogenous mutagens present in the environment (as a pollution of air, water and soil, e.g. motor-vehicle emissions, pesticides, industrial effluents), or in occupational exposures (e.g. pesticides, petrochemicals), or from diet (e.g. substances naturally present in the food, generated during cooking, or added for food preservation), life style (e.g. tobacco smoking, cosmetics), radiation (e.g. radon, diagnostic X-rays examinations) and medical procedures (e.g. chemotherapy, radiotherapy). The long list of genotoxins is consistent with evidence indicating that the great majority of cancer, in principle, is preventable because the factors that determine cancer incidence are largely exogenous or “environmental”. It has been estimated that perhaps 75−80% of all cancers in the United States Application of ionizing radiation in studies of biomarkers of individual susceptibility Antonina Cebulska-Wasilewska