[ RadSafe ] BEIR VII Discussion Continued

[John Jacobus]

Maury,
Of course, rules can be changed and broken, e.g.,
"assume all radiation is harmful" to "radiation is
harmful at high doses."

--- Maury Siskel <maurysis at ev1.net> wrote:

> These might well be codified as Luckey's Rules. The
> Rules can then be 
> used to ensure funding for appropriate proposals. I
> look forward to 
> seeing your (Scott's) paper.
> Cheers,
> Maury&Dog   maurysis at ev1.net
> =================
> Scott, Bobby wrote:
> 
> >TD Luckey in his article "Radiation Hormesis
> Overview", published in RSO
> >8(4):23-29, 2003, states the following (a through
> j) which appear to
> >apply directly to BEIR VII (Phase 2):
> >
> >Most epidemiologist and government agencies err by
> one or more of the
> >following:
> >
> >a)      assume all radiation is harmful;
> >
> >b)      include data from low-dose participants in
> their control cohort;
> >
> >c)      have no low dose group in the protocol;
> >
> >d)      do not use available low-dose data
> >
> >e)      use a one dimensional formula or statistic
> which do not allow
> >expression of beneficial effects;
> >
> >f)        ignore data that does not fit the LNT
> dose-response curve;
> >
> >g)      interpolate between high doses and
> background levels to obtain
> >fancied results to produce an support unreasonable
> regulations;
> >
> >h)      assume cell functions are not subject to
> whole body activities;
> >
> >i)        ignore increased immune competence found
> in exposed organisms;
> >
> >j)        ignore increased health and average
> lifespan while emphasizing
> >risks and death.
> >
> > Form the above list, please choose your favorites
> and comment on them in
> >the Radsafe Digest with respect to BEIR VII (Phase
> 2). 
> >
> >Please note that use of DDREF as was done in BEIR
> VII restricts
> >dose-response functions to have positive slopes. 
> Hormetic dose-response
> >is not possible with use of DDREF approach. 
> >
> >Please note also that application of DDREF forces
> nonlinearity in the
> >dose-response curve.  This is interesting given the
> emphasis of BEIR VII
> >on data being consistent with LNT. BEIR VII then
> uses DDREF to impose
> >nonlinearity!
> >
> >It is my understanding that the control group used
> by BEIR VII was
> >redefined to include higher dosed individuals.  If
> so, could this have
> >included persons in a hormetic dose zone?  That
> would not be a good
> >thing to do.
> >
> >Dose rate is quite important related to evaluating
> radiation risks.
> >Dose rates for A-bomb survivors were likely more
> than 10 orders of
> >magnitude greater than for high background regions
> of the globe.  If so,
> >can on justifiably extrapolate form A-bomb survivor
> data to exposure to
> >background radiation.  BEIR VII concluded that even
> background radiation
> >was harmful.  I respectively disagree. Our research
> points to elevated
> >background radiation suppression cancer risk. Of
> course such suppression
> >cannot be simulated via use of DDREF.
> >
> >I don't have time today for additional comments as
> I am preparing to
> >catch a plane shortly to attend the PSA '05 meeting
> tomorrow in San
> >Francisco to present a talk entitled "The LNT
> hypothesis may have
> >outlived its usefulness for low-LET radiation." 
> The presentation will
> >be given in the LNT plenary session chaired by Dr.
> Chauncey Starr. The
> >presentation will be made available in pdf format
> via my website
> >http://www.radiation-scott.org
> <http://www.radiation-scott.org/>  within
> >a few days.  It will be placed in the section on
> Low Dose Research.
> >
> >Best wishes.
> >
> >Bobby R. Scott
> >
> >LRRI, Albuquerque, NM USA
> >  
> >
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+++++++++++++++++++
"Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea and never shrinks back to its original proportion." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com


		
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