Submarines and Women Sailors

Physician questions how radiation from submarines may affect women sailors.
In the Los Angeles Times (5/13), Roger C. Dunham, a doctor of internal medicine, writes that "the United States is poised to repeal" a ban on women sailors serving on submarines, with "the first women...scheduled to serve aboard subs by 2012." However, according to Dunham, "on submarines, the nuclear reactor is near the center of the vessel, and sailors need to pass by that radiation-emitting system to get to the engine room watch stations, often several times a day." Dunham wonders what effect this radiation could have on the "genetically sensitive" ovarian "tissue in women that is intimately involved in the process of childbearing." He argues that "female sailors volunteering for service aboard a nuclear submarine must be better informed about their risk before it is too late for them, or for the children they hope to bear."