[ RadSafe ] Re: Cameron's refutation of "Alara Does Work"

[John Jacobus]

Dr. Long,
What are you refering to?  The issue is that this
study has suspect data.  Obviously, to those who think
about the issues, if you exclude workers who may have
an underlying genetic risk of cancer, there will an
injected bias in the data.  No matter how good the
mathematical analysis, there will be this underlying
bias.

Is that clear?

--- howard long <hflong at pacbell.net> wrote:

> "Frequently, those who had relatives with cancers be
> excluded from work involving radiation" could not
> explain 3 year greater longevity, i.e., a "healthy
> worker" effect, even if complete. 
>    
>   Howard Long
>    
> John Jacobus <crispy_bird at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   Dr. Long,
> As one one worked with medical records at one of the
> Naval shipyards, all workers who were involved with
> radiation exposure would have a screen physical. 
> Frequently, those who had relatives with cancers
> would
> be excluded from work involving radiaion. 
> 
> Yes, I would think that this would bias the data,
> leading to a sicker cohort of not non-radaition
> workers. That is why the study does not exhibit a
> healthy worker effect, despite the conclusion of
> Rainer, who is neither an epidemiologist nor has
> access to the original data.
> 
> Of course, I doubt that this selection bias was
> taken
> into account by Matanoski as she only had the
> records
> but not the directives on worker selection. 
> 
> --- howard long wrote:
> 
> > Ranier, your careful review of the Boice
> commentary
> > on Matanoski's presentation of the vast Nuclear
> > Shipyard Study, confirms my belief that healthy
> > worker effect cannot explain the 3 years of life
> > apparently added by exposure of Gulf Coast workers
> > to 0.5 rem extra.
> > 
> > The only credible (although minor) healthy worker
> > selection I have seen proposed, was here on
> Radsafe.
> > It was that a doctor giving employment exams might
> > unconsciously have directed persons of less
> vigorous
> > health away from imagined hazards of radiation
> > exposure, to otherwise identical work. 
> > 
> > Howard Long
> > 
> > . . .

+++++++++++++++++++
"You get a lot more authority when the workforce doesn't think it's amateur hour on the top floor."
GEN. MICHAEL V. HAYDEN, President Bush's nominee for C.I.A. director.

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

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