Sustainability and Social Justice
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Radiocesium in food poses an ongoing challenge in environmental health risk assessment. Annual dose compliance (1 mSv/year) is essential for radiological protection but may not reflect cumulative lifetime cancer risk (LCR) under chronic exposure or corresponding public risk perceptions. We developed an integrated radiological risk assessment framework to evaluate dietary radiocesium-related health risks and determine whether these estimates align with public risk perceptions. We estimated prefecture-level LCR and risk-perception gaps through multilevel regression and poststratification using a nationwide survey in Japan, together with food-monitoring data on radiocesium concentrations. The annual dietary radiation dose was well below the 1 mSv/year benchmark, while modeled mortality and morbidity LCRs remained above 10-5, ranging from 1.84 × 10-5 to 1.37 × 10-4 and from 2.70 × 10-5 to 2.02 × 10-4, respectively. The high-risk prefectures, particularly in Tohoku identified in spatial analyses, warrant prioritized monitoring. Agricultural products were the dominant exposure pathway, accounting for approximately 55.0–64.5% of the estimated LCR. Estimated risk tended to exceed perceived risk in northern Japan, indicating a need for proactive risk control, whereas perceived risk tended to exceed estimated risk in central Japan, suggesting a greater need for targeted communication. Our framework supports region-specific monitoring and communication by considering the LCR alongside annual dose metrics. Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Publication Title
Environment International
Publication Date
10-2026
Volume
216
ISSN
0160-4120
DOI
10.1016/j.envint.2026.110512
Keywords
dietary exposure, environmental health risk assessment, lifetime cancer risk, Radiocesium, risk-perception gap
Repository Citation
Liu, Yuxin; Zhuang, Qian; Dong, Shipeng; Huang, Jingsong; Hu, Zhenzhong; Huang, Boyang; Han, Guoyi; Goble, Robert L.; Cruz, Ana Maria; Liu, Tong; Hou, Xiaolin; Du, Yingzhe; Mao, Liang; Huang, Lei; and Siegrist, Michael, "Beyond annual dose: Assessing lifetime cancer risk from dietary radiocesium exposure and public risk-perception gaps in Japan" (2026). Sustainability and Social Justice. 593.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/593
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Copyright Conditions
Liu, Y., Zhuang, Q., Dong, S., Huang, J., Hu, Z., Huang, B., ... & Siegrist, M. (2026). Beyond annual dose: Assessing lifetime cancer risk from dietary radiocesium exposure and public risk-perception gaps in Japan. Environment International, 110512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2026.110512
