Uncovering Radiation's Hidden Dangers
Protecting Women and Future Generations
Artwork by Loren Olson
Our Mission
The Gender and Radiation Impact Project (GRIP) leads a global effort to bring gender-specific insights into radiation safety. Women are twice as likely to develop radiation-related cancer, yet this crucial fact is missing from most regulations. We aim to change that by conducting groundbreaking research, educating the public, and advocating for policy change. We envision a future where everyone has access to information about radiation risks, especially women and children, who are disproportionately affected. Learn more about how radiation affects women.
Why This Matters Now
Every day, millions of women and children are exposed to radiation through medical treatments, environmental pollution, and consumer goods. Yet, safety standards are based on outdated models that overlook biological differences between men and women. This leaves women—especially those of reproductive age—at greater risk for radiation-induced cancers. We are working to change this. With your support, we will continue our research to inform better policies and protect future generations. You can make a difference by spreading awareness, supporting equitable standards, and staying informed. Donate Now
BETTER CHOICES, BETTER PROTECTION.
We know both the benefit and the harm of radiation; many of us learned about the potential for harm as children.
Today, we have the chance to invest in a project whose goal is to keep our grandchildren from experiencing harm from radiation. This opportunity is rooted in a new understanding that a silent siren has been going off for seventy-five years: for every two men who develop cancer through exposure to ionizing radiation, three women will get the disease.
Our goal is an overall reduction in harm, better protection, and better choices for preventing unintended exposure to radiation – for everyone, but especially for little girls who are most impacted.
Now that we can hear the siren, we must act now.
Read coverage of our work on Newsweek.com.
Watch founder Mary Olson speak at the United Nations on the disproportionate harm to girls and women from radiation exposure.
Gender + Radiation Impact Project and Beyond Nuclear are now offering several short courses on the health consequences of ionizing radiation framed in topics encompassing biology, history, and society. These are informal education conducted as a blend of prerecorded and real-time engagement on zoom. Learn the basics, explore the complexities–and help create new context, find new questions and understand the need for new policy–or deepen any of these.
Check out the course offerings HERE.
“These findings, and the studies behind them, are of a truly revolutionary nature. They give a whole new dimension to the 70-year old problem of nuclear weapons.”
For our grandchildren.
For future generations.
The Gender and Radiation Impact Project works at the intersection of public health, medicine, and public policy. We are an educational and funding group that brings together top thinkers to understand the role biological sex plays in harm from radiation.
While this public health threat impacts us all, the risk is dramatically greater for girls and women. For every two men who develop cancer through exposure to ionizing radiation, three women will get the disease. Now we must learn why.
Join the Gender and Radiation Impact Project in jump-starting a five-year effort to broaden research on the impact of radiation to include girls, women, and the entire human life-cycle. Become a Research Catalyst today!
