Post-COE: World health and radiation environment

Within and beyond the 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) program in Nagasaki University, the “International Consortium of Hibakusha's Medical Care and Radiation Research”, we have been involved in various international joint research projects in the area of “Radiation Effects on Human Health” since October 1990 that mainly aimed to clarify the cause-and-effect relationship between Chernobyl radiation fallout and the existing health conditions including human cancers. Here, as a team leader of radiation program of the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters, I will propose the strategic approach to post-COE program in Nagasaki University from the standpoint of World Health issues focusing on the global burden of Radiation Environment. Modern society is really at risk which is produced and further complicated by a rapid advancement of science and technology but such risks, either predictable or unpredictable, should be secured from and solved by science and technology themselves. Appropriate countermeasures against both natural and man-made sources of radiation exposure are needed. The new health system and governance against modern radiation risks needs to be established as a multidisciplinary cooperation based on qualified and reliable data accumulated at Nagasaki University from the achievements in and by transferring the international research fields of radiation effects to human health. Taking an initiative and promoting comprehensive radiation research consortium to “Public Health and Radiation Environment,” based on the fruitful attainments of Nagasaki University 21st Century COE program, is a new research theme for the public as well as the patients.