ETIOLOGY OF ACUTE-LEUKEMIA

Ionising radiation. In high dose and with acute exposure, is a factor that has been implicated in leukaemogenesis, but what is the evidence for leukaemogenesis and exposure to diagnostic X-rays, to natural terr estrial or cosmic ionising radiation, to electromagnetic fields, or to nuclear energy? Why is population mixing and infection a possible exp lanation for the clusters of childhood acute leukaemias around the nuc lear processing plants of Sellafield and Dounreay? These questions, as well as how chemical agents, including therapeutic substances, might contribute to leukaemogenesis, are discussed in this last article in t he leukaemia series.