Current Issues in Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis No. 98 - Radiation-induced genomic instability: a paradigm-breaking phenomenon and its relevance to environmentally induced cancer

The existing paradigm governing radiobiology which is fundamental to the es timation of environmental radiation risk, cannot explain the phenomena of r adiation induced genomic instability and the bystander effect. Both effects can, however, be understood in terms of the dynamical genome concept, qual itatively described herein. The dynamical genome concept may find further a pplication in better understanding other aspects of biology, most notably t he cancer process in general and the consequences of genetic modification. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.