Pregnancy and Beyond Part III: Cosmic Radiation.

Over the last 35 years transport technology has created new environmental frontiers in which family physicians are, and will continue to be, involved both in research and in administering patient care. Some frontiers address basic physiological problems that cross over into others. In a series of four articles, the author describes six of these frontiers, with specific emphasis on pregnancy, from hyperbarism (undersea physiology) to microgravity (space physiology), and discusses the problems and linkages where evident. This third article deals with the known effects of cosmic radiation on the well-being of pregnant women in high-altitude flight, and in space.