[ RadSafe ] World's Pilots Reject Body Scanners>Over Radiation Danger, Privacy Breach

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Gary.  

I have no problem with that being part of the education about radiation
that flight crews receive.  Indeed, I would like to see research like
this examined and debated, to either be explained with more than a hand
wave, developed into models that have some sort of predictive value, or
suggest other avenues of research that will provide more insight.  As I
have said before, I am quite willing to be convinced that hormesis
occurs, if the evidence is strong enough to sway enough of the people
who know more about the subject than I do.  

On the other hand, if TSA decides to charge a fee for the health
benefits of the body scan, I will be very put out.   

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of
garyi at trinityphysics.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 5:19 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] World's Pilots Reject Naked Body
Scanners>OverRadiation Danger, Privacy Breach

Hi Mike,

Your post made me wonder if anyone had studied cancer 
mortality for pilots.  So I googled "pilots radiation mortality" and 
got (suprise!) more evidence for hormesis:

    Cosmic radiation and cancer mortality among airline 
    pilots: results from a European cohort study (ESCAPE), 
    Radiation and Environmental Biophysics Volume 42, 
    Number 4, 247-256, DOI: 10.1007/s00411-003-0214-7   

    Abstract: 
    Cosmic radiation is an occupational risk factor for 
    commercial aircrews. In this large European cohort 
    study (ESCAPE) its association with cancer mortality 
    was investigated on the basis of individual effective dose 
    estimates for 19,184 male pilots. Mean annual doses 
    were in the range of 2-5 mSv and cumulative lifetime 
    doses did not exceed 80 mSv. All-cause and all-cancer 
    mortality was low for all exposure categories. A 
    significant negative risk trend for all-cause mortality was 
    seen with increasing dose. Neither external and internal 
    comparisons nor nested case-control analyses showed 
    any substantially increased risks for cancer mortality due 
    to ionizing radiation. However, the number of deaths for 
    specific types of cancer was low and the confidence 
    intervals of the risk estimates were rather wide. 
    Difficulties in interpreting mortality risk estimates for 
    time-dependent exposures are discussed.   

Another study of Canadian pilots found this:
    Statistically significant decreased mortality was 
    observed for all causes (SMR = 0.63, 90% confidence 
    interval (CI) 0.56-0.70), for all cancers (SMR = 0.61, 
    90% CI 0.48-0.76), and for all noncancer diseases 
    (SMR = 0.53, 90% CI 0.45-0.62). 

You have wonder, with data like that, what are the pilots 
complaining about? 

-Gary Isenhower


On 9 Nov 2010 at 16:50, Brennan, Mike  (DOH) wrote:

For a long time I have felt that as anyone who is on a 
commercial flight crew should have the training necessary to 
understand the radiation dose they receive as a (mostly) 
unavoidable result of their occupation.  It really shouldn't be that 
difficult or take that long, and it will reduce anxiety and 
misunderstanding.  If it had already been done this issue would 
be easier to deal with.   

I also have long thought that there should be a separate line 
with a much reduced screening regime for "prescreened" 
people.  There are a number of criteria that could be used for 
prescreening, including some sort of background check, and 
flight crews would be an obvious group to go through such a 
program.  

I am surprised that the scanners would take three minutes per 
person. That clearly is too long.    

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