[Current aspects in the evaluation of radiation risk: from the risk to organs to total injury risk (effective equivalent doses)].

For the estimation of the health risks of radiation in man by low radiation doses as well as to compare the man-made radiation exposure with the natural one, it is proved useful and necessary to estimate the effective dose-equivalent. It is not sufficient to take only into consideration the radiation exposure of bone marrow and gonads. Due to an external irradiation source as well as by incorporation of radioactive materials, various tissues and organs in the human body will simultaneously be exposed. This is best illustrated by the component of the "natural" radiation exposure with radon, attributable more or less to our living conditions. The incorporation of radon and its daughters in the lung with its cancer causing risk is not evaluated in the determination of the gonads and bone marrow dose. The effective dose-equivalent is being estimated for the evaluation of possible radiation risk by the carcinogenic and mutagenic effectiveness of radiation (stochastic radiation risk) with weighting factors. For the genetic risk solely 25% and for the somatic risk 75% are granted, whereas the risk factor "breast tissue" dominates.