Edward Radford, 79; Warned of High Risk of Cancer From Exposure to Radiation

Edward P. “Ted” Radford, a researcher who claimed radiation exposure from nuclear power plants and X-rays put Americans at high risk for cancer, died Oct. 12 at his home in Haslemere, England, of a stroke. He was 79.

Born in Springfield, Mass., and educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, Radford spent much of his career studying radiation. During his service in the Air Force, he measured radiation levels at flight altitudes after atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific. Later he held research positions at Harvard, DuPont, the University of Cincinnati, Johns Hopkins and the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1979, he chaired the committee of the National Academy of Sciences that issued a report on cancer risks from radiation shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident. The report, widely criticized, indicated that one-half of 1% of Americans would develop cancer because of man-made sources of radiation, namely power plants and X-rays.

Radford’s committee squabbled so much over the findings that the academy withdrew the report and revised it, halving the estimated risk. Radford stuck to the original findings, which have had an effect on Environmental Protection Agency standards for radiation protection.