Radioepidemiological tables: Council on Scientific Affairs

In 1983, the Federal Orphan Drug Act was passed. This act included a rider intended as a foundation for compensating individuals with cancers allegedly caused by radiation exposures during certain nuclear events. In response, a National Institutes of Health working group was established that prepared the National Institutes of Health Radioepidemiological Tables. The tables permit computation of a probability of causation (otherwise known as assigned share) that an individual's cancer was caused by earlier estimated exposure to radiation. However, several limitation have been noted in the accuracy of the computations and in the conditions under which the computations are applicable. These limitations have caused the Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association to recommend that the probability of causation approach not be applied to occupational radiation exposures or to diagnostic or therapeutic exposures in medicine.