AW: [ RadSafe ] Re: Shipyard worker study - NO Unhealthy Controls!

[John Jacobus]

Rainer,
Yes, the data from the shipyard study is complicated
as there appear to be confounding factors that were
not addressed when the report was first analyze.  I
only mentioned asbestos as an example of one factor. 
However, no further analysis was conducted as the Dept
of Energy did not intend to pursue the study any
further.  The basis of the study was to rebut an
earlier study that implied nuclear workers at one
facility had a higher incident of blood malignancies. 
After this larger study was completed, and refuted the
smaller study, DOE was not interested in funding any
further work.

I would suggest that you read the review by John D
Boice, Jr.in J Radiol Prot. 2001 Ded:21(4): 400-3. I
sent a copy of this under another posting, but can
send one to you directly.

Nevertheless, I should point out, as noted in the
attached, the study was not intended to be based the
general population.  It was between groups of nuclear
workers and non-nuclear workers.  I expect that the
comparison with the general population was to
demonstrate a healthy worker effect.


--- Rainer.Facius at dlr.de wrote:

> Howard, (Keith),
> 
> The SMRs reported in Matanoski's work were
> determined by comparison with the white-male general
> population!
> 
> <quote>The risk of death during follow-up was
> compared to 1970 U.S. white male lifetable
> probabilities.<endquote> (p. 7 in 1.1
> Introduction/Overview of: Matanoski Genevieve M,
> Health Effects of Low-Level Radiation in Shipyard
> Workers. DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-79EV10095,
> Final Report DOE/EV/10095--T2, The Johns Hopkins
> University, Department of Epidemiology, School of
> Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, June
> 1991)
> 
> The attached (PDF-file) table is an excerpt from
> Matanoski's report and supports to some extent the
> claim that the Non-Nuclear-Workers (NNW) were - with
> respect to selected(!) diseases - less healthy than
> U.S. white-male (USWM), in particular with respect
> to "all malignancies" and within this class with
> respect to "non-respiratory malignancies". With
> respect to "circulatory" diseases (where
> predominantly one would expect to see a healthy
> worker effect), the NNW (and the nuclear workers
> even more so) did indeed display a marked healthy
> worker effect in dying significantly less frequent
> than USWM. The overall mortality of NNW from all
> causes was indistinguishable from USWM. With respect
> to "respiratory malignancies", all(!) worker groups
> showed an increased mortality with respect to USWM
> which was statistically significant for all workers
> pooled together and nearly so for NNW. Regarding the
> nuclear workers, this is in contrast to the several
> chronic radiation exposure epidemiological studies
> where reduced mortality is observed most frequently
> for lung cancer!
> 
> In this regard, both your and even more so John
> Jacobus' rendering of Matanoski's data appear too
> simplistic. 
> 
> Sometime ago I distributed a graph in a PDF-file
> displaying the Matanoski data for these mayor
> findings. If someone likes to see it he may send me
> his request.
> 
> Best regards, Rainer
> 
>  
> 

+++++++++++++++++++
“We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient — that we are only 6 percent of the world’s population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity; and therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.”
-- John F. Kennedy 

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


 
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