Abstract
This editorial is offered to those who are interested in science-based radiation protection. A long historical frame is offered for the advent and application of fission and the resulting wide exposure of communities to ionizing radiation. Findings are reviewed: disproportionate harm to female bodies compared to male bodies, and that the difference in outcome is strongly tied to exposures in early childhood is the occasion to invoke our lifecycle as the appropriate focus for radiation protection. Citations of expert work and the author"™s findings that radiation"™s impacts are not uniform across our lifecycle, make a case for adopting a new Reference Individual as an efficient means to better protect our lifecycle.
To protect our future, the entire lifecycle must be protected, and so the new Reference is best if both a child, and female, in order to be maximally protective.
Centering protection on life stage of greatest harm is insufficient unless the model is applied universally, not only to girls. The frame of Reference Girl is also offered as a means to engage, and incorporate, new findings on radiation"™s impacts on human health. These views point to work that is to be done, and the author commends the rising generations in research settings step up to meet these opportunities.