WG: [ RadSafe ] Interesting article from a different perspective - ODEMagazine

[Jim Muckerheide]

Dear Rainer et al.

The "1993" reference about Misasa is likely the book:

"HEALTH EFFECTS OF LOW-LEVEL RADIATION" By Sohei Kondo

Kondo reports on the data from a 1992 paper, which is referred to by Sadao
Hattori at:
http://www.radscihealth.org/rsh/dd3/2.1.2.1.1.4Hattori94.html

Kondo provides the tables of the data from all the cancer sites, and the
"all cancers" data that is presented in this "Figure 4."

There is a subsequent paper by an different group, Suzuki et al., in 1994.
See the abstract at:
http://www.radscihealth.org/rsh/dd3/2.1.2.1.1.4%20Suzuki94.html

The Sobue/Ye et al. group made a later conference presentation in 1997,
pub'd again in 1998 in the Jpn J Cancer Res; and a later case-control study
in 2000 in the J Radiat Res (Tokyo).  All of these can be linked from:
http://www.radscihealth.org:9000/rsh/dd3/searchResult2.jsp?keyword4=2.1.2.1.
1.4+Japan (which is also:
http://tinyurl.com/5kwhcc )

The full text/pdf of this 2000 paper is open and can be linked from the
PubMed abstract.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
===========================

on 7/3/08 12:37 PM, Rainer.Facius at dlr.de at Rainer.Facius at dlr.de wrote:

> ________________________________
> 
> Von: Facius, Rainer
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. Juli 2008 11:41
> An: Johnston, Thomas; Academic-Medical Radiation Safety Officers
> listserve
> Betreff: AW: [ RadSafe ] Interesting article from a different
> perspective - ODEMagazine
> 
> Thank you, Thomas, for his pointer.
> 
> Given the fact that this lady, Ursula Sautter, writes from Germany, a
> European stronghold of radiophobia, this article is remarkable indeed. I
> can only speculate how many German news papers have turned down her
> attempts to publish it here.
> 
> The closing 'cautionary' comment of Dave Eaton, director of the Center
> for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health at the University of Washington
> in Seattle merits special advertisement as a masterpiece of scientific
> reasoning:
> 
> "For example, low levels of DNA damage may well activate certain DNA
> repair pathways that increase the extent and possibly the efficiency of
> DNA repair. But it is still possible that some of the low-level DNA
> damage escapes repair and is ultimately detrimental. Thus I don't think
> one can assume that all 'low-dose' responses are without potential
> harm."
> 
> In other words (in view of the article's message) he appears to concede:
> We have no empirical evidence that exposure (of healthy people) to (low
> LET) ionizing radiation up to say 200 mSv acute (Hiroshima/Nagasaki) and
> to about 500 mSv chronic irradiation (epidemiological studies) are
> detrimental to human health. To the contrary, we have empirical evidence
> to the opposite from controlled laboratory work on cells and animals as
> well as from observations in human populations - bolstered by mounting
> insight into genetic/molecular control mechanisms which in turn can be
> successfully described by quantitative models. But - notwithstanding
> such knowledge: 
> 
> " ... I don't think one can assume that all 'low-dose' responses are
> without potential harm."
> 
> This counterfactual 'assuming' is prudent carefulness indeed - but only
> in a world where there IS a free lunch, i.e., the world of (some)
> politicians and (some of) their regulators which never pay the bill for
> their decrees (all of them). The people ruled by such philanthropism pay
> the prize. Given that escalating costs of energy production will reduce
> its use, an example would be reduced lifespan. Global studies have shown
> positive association between lifespan and per capita energy supply.
> (Unfortunately I can not spot the reference for this paper (in the
> 1990s) but hopefully someone can add this.)
> 
> Regards, Rainer
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Rainer Facius
> German Aerospace Center
> Institute of Aerospace Medicine
> Linder Hoehe
> 51147 Koeln
> GERMANY
> Voice: +49 2203 601 3147 or 3150
> FAX:   +49 2203 61970
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl im Auftrag von Johnston, Thomas
> Gesendet: Di 01.07.2008 18:48
> An: Academic-Medical Radiation Safety Officers listserve
> Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Interesting article from a different perspective -
> ODEMagazine
> 
> Ran across this article today and thought I would share with the Group
> and originates from a perspective outside of our usual circles. The
> magazine's coves uses the tagline: "ProRadiation."
> 
> "Small can be healthy," Toxins like radon and even DDT may have
> beneficial effects at very low doses.
> 
> By Ursula Sautter <http://www.odemagazine.com/people/Ursula%20Sautter>
> 
> http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/53/small-can-be-healthy/
> 
> 
> Tom
> 
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