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Global Translational Medicine

PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE
Overestimation of the cardiovascular

consequences of low-dose radiation exposures

Sergei V. Jargin*
Department of Public Health, Peoples’ Friendship University (RUDN), Moscow, Russia

Abstract

This study focuses on radioactive contamination in the Urals, where the consequences
were more severe in the long term than those after the Chernobyl accident. The
difference is that the latter was a technogenic catastrophe, while the former was
radioactive contamination tolerated for 70 years, with several accidents in between.
In earlier publications by Russian researchers, no cancer frequency elevation was
reported after exposures of <0.5 Sv or generally in the populations exposed to low
doses. Later, the same scientists started to claim similar relative risks for cancer and
other diseases among exposed people in the Urals and atomic bomb survivors
in Japan. Apparently, there was an ideological shift in 2005 – 2007. Trimming of
statistics was not unusual in the former Soviet Union. Potential motives included
stirring antinuclear protests in other countries and the strangulation of nuclear
energy aimed at boosting fossil fuel prices.

Keywords: Techa river; East Urals Radioactive trace; Ionizing radiation; Cerebrovascular
diseases; Cardiovascular diseases
*Corresponding author:
Sergei V. Jargin
(sjargin@mail.ru)
Citation: Jargin SV. Overestimation 1. Introduction
of the cardiovascular consequences
of low-dose radiation exposures. At times of international tensions, scientists must preserve objectivity. Potential conflicts
Global Transl Med. 2025:4(1):56-66.
doi: 10.36922/gtm.7229 of interest should be discussed. For many years, certain environmentalists and grassroots
groups have acted in accordance with the interests of companies and governments
Received: December 10, 2024 selling petroleum and natural gas. The most evident example is this tendency with
1,2
Revised: January 14, 2025 regard to ionizing radiation, where the overestimation of the medical and environmental
3
Accepted: February 17, 2025 side effects of atomic energy contributes to its strangulation, supporting appeals to
dismantle nuclear power plants (NPPs). Fueled by the Chernobyl accident in 1986,
Published online: March 18, 2025 environmentalist movements mobilized political forces, which made nuclear energy
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). untenable in some countries. The use of nuclear energy for electricity production is on
4
This is an Open-Access article the agenda today due to the increasing energy needs of humankind. Of note, health risks
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution and environmental damage are maximal for coal and oil, lower for gas, and much lower
License, permitting distribution, for atomic energy, the cleanest, safest, and practically inexhaustible energy resource. 3,5
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is This perspective article focuses on radioactive contamination in the Urals, where the
properly cited. consequences have been more severe in the long run than those after the Chernobyl
1,2
Publisher’s Note: AccScience accident. The Chernobyl disaster has been discussed previously. The Mayak Production
Publishing remains neutral with Association (MPA) was the first plutonium production site in the former Soviet
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Union (SU), built in 1948. The dumping of radioactive materials into the Techa River,
affiliations. the 1957 Kyshtym accident, and dispersion by winds from the open repository Lake

Volume 4 Issue 1 (2025) 56 doi: 10.36922/gtm.7229