[ RadSafe ] Re: ABC (aus) 7;30 Report

[Ivor Surveyor]

I must thank those who have taken an interest in my posting on the 
subject of irradiated cat food.   I was not previously aware of 
possible biochemical changes in food composition such as low vitamin 
A levels or the changes in fat composition and so on after irradiation.

I gather from the various references that it is by no means certain 
that axonal degeneration in cats is due to the irradiated food. 
None-the-less it is certainly seems to be suggestive.

One of the greatest problems in any science is the establishment of 
causal relationships.  This is a subject that interested David Hume 
in the eighteen century and more recently the late Professor Sir 
Austin Bradford Hill (1) and the arguments are repeated by Rothman 
and Greenland (2).  Hill stated 9 criteria for establishing a causal 
relationship. In the final analysis it is not a question of ticking 
off the Hill criteria one by one; it is necessary to exercise 
judgment in the light of current knowledge.

However, in view of the responses it is clear to me that I was too 
hasty in my judgment of the ABC program for which I apologize.

I am not sure how this relates to the irradiation of human food.  Two 
differences immediately come to mind.  What are the destructive 
effects on food of various modes of cooking?   Finally humans 
(hopefully) have a much more varied diet then the monotonous diet 
feed to some domesticated or laboratory animals?

I)      Hill AB.  Proc Royal Soc Med 1965; 58:295-300.
II)     Rothman KJ and Greenland S: In Modern Epidemiology (2nd Ed). 
1998; Chap 2 page7-28.   Lippincott Williams &Wilkins.


Ivor Surveyor
[ isurveyor at vianet.net.au ]