[Lethal developmental defects in the offspring of a population living in a territory with traces of radioactivity].

The paper is concerned with the materials of a study of long-term effects of irradiation at small doses of a limited population, taking by way of example lethal developmental defects in descendants. In 1957 a radioactive trace was formed as a result of an explosion of a tank with highly active radiochemical by-products. The population in this area was exposed to irradiation. Mortality from lethal developmental defects in the descendants was analyzed. The data obtained have shown that the effect on the gonads of external irradiation at doses of 0.1-0.5 Sv (33,500 persons) revealed no statistically significant variations in the mortality of the descendants from developmental defects as compared to the controls.