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April 26, 1986 a tragedy occurred: a reactor exploded at Chernobyl. A lot is written about this tragedy. Pre- sented here are different estimates of this event, including opportunistic and absolutely non-qualified. The article describes the situation during the first 35 days after the accident, in other words, what the author saw with his own eyes. The author himself was involved in the treatment of irradiated patients at hospital No 6 and took part in the liquidation of the accident at the site of the Chernobyl reactor disaster zone, within a 30-km. zone.

Review of the data of experimental radiobiology and epidemiological follow-up of large groups of people subjected to radiation exposures on Earth has been undertaken to substantiate dose limits for critical organs of cosmonauts in order to ensure good performance and vitality while on long-duration orbital missions. The career dose limits for cosmonauts and astronauts established earlier in the USSR and USA amounted to nothing more but banning the risk of cancer death increase to 3%. To apply more rigorous criteria of delayed radiation risks, the Russian limits for cosmonauts were revised to substantiate a 4-fold reduction of the average tissue equivalent dose maximum to 1 Sv. The total of cancer and non-cancer radiation risks over lifetime and probable reduction of mean life expectancy (MLE) were calculated using the model of radiation-induced mortality for mammals and taken as the main damage to health. The established dose limit is equal to the career dose for nuclear industry personnel set forth by Russian standard document NRB 99/2009. For better agreement of admissible threshold doses to critical human organs (bone marrow, lens and skin) in the revised radiation limits for long-duration space missions and radiation safety limits on Earth, reduction of dose limits for the critical organs were substantiated additionally; these limits comply with those for planned over-exposure on Earth in document NRB 99/2009.

The twenty-first century is marked with exponentially increasing development of technologies that provide wireless communications. To the pollution of the atmosphere with radio and TV signals, not only satellite communications but also any varieties of the Wi-Fi networks are added. By 2010 in the USA, 285 million mobile phone subscribers have been registered (for a little bit more than 300 million inhabitants). The estimate for the world is more than 5 billion mobile phone users at approximately 7 billion people living on this planet. Approximately 2 years ago, the International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the electromagnetic fields used in mobile communication as a possible cancerogene. This paper discusses the potential health hazard and lack of scientific assessment and regulatory actions in protection of the life on the planet.

This paper presents the results of a replication study performed to investigate earlier Soviet studies conducted between 1974 and 1991 that showed immunological and reproductive effects of long-term low-level exposure of rats to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields. The early studies were used, in part, for developing exposure standards for the USSR population and thus it was necessary to confirm the Russian findings. In the present study, the conditions of RF exposure were made as similar as possible to those in the earlier experiments: Wistar rats were exposed in the far field to 2450 MHz continuous wave RF fields with an incident power density in the cages of 5 W/m² for 7 h/day, 5 days/week for a total of 30 days, resulting in a whole-body SAR of 0.16 W/kg. Effects of the exposure on immunological parameters in the brain and liver of rats were evaluated using the complement fixation test (CFT), as in the original studies, and an additional test, the more modern ELISA test. Our results, using CFT and ELISA, partly confirmed the findings of the early studies and indicated possible effects from non-thermal RF exposure on autoimmune processes. The RF exposure resulted in minor increases in formation of antibodies in brain tissue extract and the exposure did not appear to be pathological. In addition, a study was conducted to replicate a previous Soviet study on effects from the injection of blood serum from RF-exposed rats on pregnancy and foetal and offspring development of rats, using a similar animal model and protocol. Our results showed the same general trends as the earlier study, suggesting possible adverse effects of the blood serum from exposed rats on pregnancy and foetal development of intact rats, however, application of these results in developing exposure standards is limited., (Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Since pioneering investigations published in the beginning of 1970th, various biological responses to non-thermal (NT) microwaves (MW), including adverse health effects, have been described by many research groups all over the world. There is strong evidence that the NT MW biological effects depend on several physical parameters and biological variables, which must be controlled in replication studies. Apart from the fundamental importance, the development of comprehensive mechanisms for the NT MW effects is socially important. The effects of MW of mobile communications are of major concern because of the increased exposure in many countries. It has been shown that adverse effects of NT MW from GSM/UMTS mobile phones on human lymphocytes from healthy and hypersensitive to EMF persons depend on carrier frequency and modulation. Further investigations with human primary cells, animals and volunteers are needed to elucidate possible adverse effects of MW signals that are used in wireless communication. Identification of those types and frequency channels/bands for mobile communication, which do not affect human cells, is urgently needed as the high priority task for the development of safe mobile communication. Numerous data on the NT MW effects clearly indicate that the SAR-concept alone cannot underlie the safety guidelines for chronic exposures to MW from mobile communication and other approaches are needed. However, there is not enough research information to set exposure MW standards. Various genetic and epigenetic effects of signals used in mobile communication should be studied. It has been shown that NT MW affect cells of various types including stem cells and reproductive organs. Stem cells represent especially important cellular model because recent data suggest that different cancer types, including leukemia, have a fundamentally common basis that is grounded on epigenetic changes in stem cells.

In 1974, the USSR launched the biosatellite Cosmos-690 equipped with a gamma-irradiation unit that carried 35 rats. On the 10th flight day, the rats were exposed to radiation at doses of 220 or 800 rads. During the subsequent 10 d, radiation injury developed in a space environment. Similar ground-based experiments were carried out to simulate space flight environment effects. The results obtained were studied on a comparative basis. The conclusion is made that effects of a short-term space flight, as long as 20 d, do not essentially modify the radiobiological effect.

Preliminary results of the radiobiological experiments carried out on the biosatellite Cosmos 690 with a radiation exposure unit on board are presented. The duration of the satellite flight was 20.5 days. On the tenth day of the flight 35 rats were exposed on board the satellite to 220 or 800 rads of gamma radiation. Comparison of data obtained in test and control groups of animals has shown that under the influence of space flight factors a somewhat more severe radiation injury develops than in on-ground conditions.

Several biological objects were flown in Cosmos 782 in order to investigate the effects of HZE cosmic particles and other environmental factors of space. Space flight results in chromosomic aberrations in lettuce seeds, decreased germination rate and increased frequency of abnormalities in tobacco seeds and decreased developmental capacity in Artemia eggs. In lettuce and tobacco seedlings, changes were observed not only in seeds hit by heavy ions but also in nonhit seeds. The results indicate that exposure to the space environment can induce important changes in biological objects and emphasize the usefulness of investigations carried out on organisms less complex than mammals.

In our previous studies on board the artificial earth satellite Cosmos 368, the cosmic apparatus Zond 8 and the orbital station Salyut it has been demonstrated that space-flight factors (SFF) have a definite effect on poorly active biological systems, such as dry lettuce seeds. The technical possibilities on board the biosatellite Cosmos 782 (the availability of an on-board centrifuge) allowed us to obtain some new data concerning the mechanisms of the SFF effects. Irradiated seeds of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) were exposed in space flight for 22 days either to weightlessness conditions only or to a centrifugal field. Data have been obtained characterizing the cytogenetical and physiological processes in seeds of various series of the experiment. An attempt is made to analyse the role of individual SFF in the changes observed.