Somatic effects include cancer, leukemia, and other sickness. Which option matches this description?

• A. Genetic birth defects
• B. Somatic effects
• C. Acute exposure
• D. Chronic exposure

Answer: (B)

Somatic effects are health effects that occur in the person who was exposed and are not inherited by offspring. Cancer and leukemia are classic somatic effects because they arise in the irradiated individual and do not become genetic traits passed to future generations. The other ideas describe either genetic (germline) changes that could be inherited or refer to how long or when exposure happened, not the type of effect itself. So the description matches somatic effects.