[ RadSafe ] LNT Dogma?

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Maybe I am overly picky about who I listen to, but Mr. Calabrese lost all credibility with me with, " I am familiar with the Rocky Flats Nuclear Power Plant..."  If he is not familiar enough with Rocky Flats to know that it was NOT a nuclear power plant, of if he is not familiar enough with nuclear issues to understand there is a non-trivial difference between weapons manufacturing facilities and nuclear power plants, then I have difficulty believing he is familiar enough with the material that I should pay attention to him.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 9:41 PM
To: RADSAFE
Subject: [ RadSafe ] LNT Dogma?

Here is someone who I think is not known for quality research being pushed out to journalist and public records access community.

"On the origins of the linear no-threshold (LNT) dogma by means of untruths, artful dodges and blind faith"
Edward J. Calabrese Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,MA01003,USA


---------- Forwarded message ----------
I am familiar with the Rocky Flats Nuclear Power Plant problem of questionable risk assessment and health warnings; and Congressional direction to investigate.

I can't provide a sample of a good FOIA request.  But I can show you where to find a new medical publication re: the history of the flawed radiation risk assessment models and how it has impacted public policies over just about all chemical and environmental exposures. This paper, its author, and like-minded researchers are shaking up how chemical and environmental risk assessments are done when setting Permissible Exposure Limits.

"On the origins of the linear no-threshold (LNT) dogma by means of untruths, artful dodges and blind faith"
Edward J. Calabrese Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,MA01003,USA

Article history:
Received 2 June 2015
Received in revised form 16 July 2015
Accepted 17 July 2015
Environmental Research 142 (2015) 432–442 Science Direct

Abstract:

"This paper is an historical assessment of how prominent radiation geneticists in the United States during the 1940s and 1950 ssuccessfully worked to build acceptance for the linear no-threshold( LNT) dose– response model in risk assessment,significantly impacting environmental,occupational and medical exposure standards and practices to the present time. Detailed documentation indicates that actions taken in support of this policy revolution were ideologically driven and deliberately and deceptively misleading; that scientific records were artfully misrepresented;and that people and organizations in positions of public trust failed to perform the duties expected of them.
Key activities are described and
the roles of specific individuals are documented. These actions culminated in a1 956 report by a Genetics Panel of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation (BEAR). In this report the Genetics Panel recommended that a linear dose response model be adopted for the purpose of risk assessment, a recommendation that was rapidly and widely promulgated. The paper argues that current international cancer risk assessment policies are based on fraudulent actions of the U.
S. NAS BEARI Committee, Genetics Panel and on the uncritical, unquestioning and blind-faith acceptance by regulatory agencies and the scientific community."

One really needs to read the whole paper to get the gist of how it impacted Rockey Flats workers and others.

"Collectively,these deceptive actions became highly significant when they facilitated an unchallenged and blind-faith adoption of the Linear Dose Response (LDR) model for cancer risk assessment of ionizing radiation and later of chemical carcinogens"...This paper follows an historical timeline, starting with the professional/scientific relationship between Hermann Muller and Curt Stern and their subsequent collaborations on ionizing radiation during the Manhattan Project."

from a reporter - name withheld
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