The invention of roentgenphotography by Manoel de Abreu and its consequent widespread use in Brasil are described. Due to legal requirements, children, young people and pregnant womem are submitted repeatedly and, very often, to unnecessary examinations. After the atomic explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the knowledge that even minimum dosis of ionizing radiation can cause serious somatic and genetic risks, the widespread use of abreugraphy became cause of serious concern for Public Health workers, since its advantages are outnumbered by its cost and by the risk it offers to those submitted to this type of examination. According to recent litterature on the subject and following specific recommendations of the World Health Organization, abolition of widespread use of abreugraphy is proposed, with the elimination of the Brazilian legal requirements which make this method of examination mandatory in many situations.
Abreugraphy; Radiations