[ RadSafe ] Re: DOE funding hormesis research in Australia??

[Maury Siskel]

Hi Jim,
Finally dug out a bit more information --
Cheers,
Maury&Dog          (maurysis at ev1.net)

====================
News and Research Stories


          The other side of radiation

17 August 2005

 Testing the idea that very low dose radiation exposure may actually be 
good for you has brought a grant of more than A$1.3 million of overseas 
funding to Flinders University.

A Flinders research project that will explore apparent protective 
mechanisms triggered by exposure to low-level radiation has received a 
grant of just over US$1million from the United States Department of 
Energy under its Biological and Environmental Research Program.

The project's leader, Associate Professor Pamela Sykes, a SouthPath 
Chief Medical Scientist of the Department of Haematology and Genetic 
Pathology, said the Department of Energy funds a number of projects with 
the main aim of determining the health risks to humans posed by low 
levels of radiation.

The Flinders team received previous US funding to investigate the body's 
responses to very low-level radiation doses using its unique and highly 
sensitive assay, which employs a transgenic mouse model.

The team comprises Dr Tony Hooker as Co-Principal Investigator and two 
PhD students, Ms Tanya Day and Mr Benjamin Blyth, with technical 
assistance from Ms Monica Dreimanis and Ms Guoxin Zeng. The researchers 
will now move their focus to understanding the natural mechanisms that 
limit chromosomal damage and the likelihood that these can be "switched 
on" by low dose radiation.

Present occupational health and safety and population limits for 
radiation exposure are set by an extrapolation from what is known of 
high dose effects, resulting in a presumption that any exposure to 
radiation is dangerous and should be avoided.

"Our original data showed that there is not a straight line between the 
amount of chromosomal damage at high doses and the damage at low doses," 
Associate Professor Sykes said.

She said that while there is no argument about the dangers posed by 
high-level radiation, the earlier Flinders project demonstrated that 
low-dose exposures can show a benign effect.

"At some doses radiation appeared to be protective, showing less 
chromosomal damage than if there had been no radiation at all," 
Associate Professor Sykes said.

"We think that the radiation is causing signals that induce protection 
not only from the radiation itself, but from damage that results from 
normal living, from cell metabolism.

"Our task now is to explain how that happens."

Exposure to doses of low-level radiation appears to prime the body's 
defences, and may even be of assistance in protecting against subsequent 
exposure to higher radiation doses, Associate Professor Sykes said.

"We have found that if the cells are exposed to a protective low dose, 
and then a subsequent higher dose, we almost stop any of the damage that 
would have occurred at the higher dose," she said.

"How long the protective effect lasts, we don't yet know."

There are, however, encouraging signs that the protective effect extends 
well beyond the immediate area of exposure.

"We do know that some of the cells that are responding are not the ones 
that have been hit by the radiation, strongly indicating that signals 
sent out by exposed cells cause responses in cells elsewhere in the 
body," Associate Professor Sykes said.

The protective effect has been observed in both the spleen and the 
prostate in their transgenic mice.

"These are very different organs, which suggests that the response is a 
fundamental one and will occur in other tissues," Associate Professor 
Sykes said.

Thanks to the earlier project, the researchers have been able to 
pinpoint the range of radiation doses at which lower levels of 
chromosomal damage eventuate.

"We don't know if this range is going to be important in terms of other 
endpoints, but chromosomal damage is really important in terms of cancer 
formation," Associate Professor Sykes said.

Associate Professor Sykes said the research has considerable 
implications in terms of the enormous sums currently spent on preventing 
radiation exposure. She said that even though medical researchers and 
clinicians are permitted exposure equal to ten times the limit allowed 
for the Australian public, both levels were extremely conservative.

"There are places in the world where the natural background is higher 
than the level that I am allowed to receive as a radiation worker," she 
said.

"I am certainly not suggesting that these limits should be changed now, 
because we need more evidence.

"But it may be that we don't need to go to this enormous expense to 
protect ourselves from low-level radiation. And the sort of work we are 
doing will give us facts rather than a theoretical extrapolation.

"And eventually we may be able to protect workers who are exposed to 
radiation by giving them a dose of radiation that will stimulate the 
protective response before they go in, effectively acting as an 
immunisation."

============================ 



Muckerheide, James wrote:

> Friends,
>
>  
>
> I found no info on this news report in the Press Releases or other 
> news sources on the Flinders web site provided.  Does anyone have 
> other info on DOE research that would confirm or question this report? 
>  If there is such a research project, do you know if the research is 
> credible?
>
>  
>
> Regards, Jim Muckerheide
>
> ===================
>
>  
>
> Let's get radioactive
> HERALD-SUN Australia  22aug05
>
> SMALL doses of radiation may be a tonic for the human body, says an 
> Adelaide researcher who has won a $1.33 million grant to prove the theory.
>
> The American Department of Energy is funding the research at Flinders 
> Medical Centre, which has found extremely small doses of radiation may 
> actually be good for the body.
>
> http://www.flinders.sa.gov.au/
> Flinders Drive, Bedford Pk, 5042,
> South Australia, Australia
> Ph + 61 8 8204 5511
> Fax + 61 8 8204 5450
>
>  
>