Stewart, Alice
Alice Stewart, a British physician, was first to demonstrate the link between exposure to low-intensity radiation and cancer. She headed the Oxford Childhood Cancer Survey that showed children who died of leukemia or cancer had been X-rayed in utero twice as often as healthy children (1958). This controversial finding led eventually to the cessation of X-rays for pregnant women and heightened interest on the health effects of low-level radiation. Stewart also led a study of the health of nuclear workers at a plutonium-manufacturing complex in Hanford, Washington, site of the Manhattan Project. The analysis revealed over 10 times the incidence of cancer predicted from atomic bomb-survivor studies.
Sources
- Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Peter Saundry (Topic Editor). 2007. "Stewart, Alice." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [Published in the Encyclopedia of Earth February 19, 2007; Retrieved August 2, 2009]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Stewart,_Alice>
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