text: Stochastic effects are those that occur randomly, such as radiation-induced cancer. The consensus of nuclear regulators, governments and the UNSCEAR is that the incidence of cancers due to ionizing radiation can be modeled as increasing linearly with effective dose at a rate of 5.5% per sievert. This is known as the linear no-threshold model (LNT model). Some argue that this LNT model is now outdated and should be replaced with a threshold below which the body's natural cell processes repair damage and/or replace damaged cells. There is general agreement that the risk is much higher for infants and fetuses than adults, higher for the middle-aged than for seniors, and higher for women than for men, though there is no quantitative consensus about this.