In the Savannah (GA) Morning News - Courtesy of Jim Hardemann...

[Jim Muckerheide <jmuckerheide@delphi.com>]

...and congratulations for the coverage to our great friend, and founding
Board member, John Cameron! and nice to see Mal McKibben. :-)

Regards, Jim 
muckerheide@mediaone.net
========================

Jim --

Greetings from the icy south! I ran across the following article in the
Savannah, Georgia Morning News this morning ... I thought you might be
interested. Feel free to post it to RADSAFE ... I'm working from home today
(personal e-mail), and I haven't subscribed under my personal e-mail.

Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675
Jim_Hardeman@dnr.state.ga.us
JCHardeman2@aol.com
==============

Low-level radiation is healthy, professor claims 

Web posted Friday, January 28, 2000

By Tom Corwin 
Morris News Service 

AUGUSTA -- John Cameron's crusade would shock most people: He believes we're
not getting enough radiation.

In fact, the amount he recommends -- one-tenth of a Gray per year -- is
equivalent to roughly 15,000-20,000 chest X-rays. It is about 100 times what
we receive naturally, double the federal limit on yearly exposure and roughly
20 times the limit Savannah River Site strives for with most of its employees.

But Cameron, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and now
visiting professor at the University of Florida, says he has the studies to
back up his contention that radiation is not the health hazard some believe.

In fact, there is a hormesis effect, in which low levels are healthy while
higher concentrations are dangerous, he said before a lecture Wednesday at the
Medical College of Georgia.

"Radiation is an essential trace energy for improved health," said Cameron,
who is proposing it be taken as a Recommended Annual Value, much like vitamins
and minerals. "We need to do studies to find out what is the optimum annual
dose rate for improving our health."

One study he proposes would be using low-level radiation on the elderly.

"I'll propose research on people in retirement homes because these are the
people whose immune systems are going downhill," Cameron said. "And there's
good evidence that the immune system is stimulated by radiation."

Studies have shown people in areas with higher levels of natural radiation,
called background radiation, have higher concentrations of killer T-cells in
their bodies, said Mal McKibben, executive director of Citizens for Nuclear
Technology Awareness.

Other studies dispute the connection between lung cancer and radon, a gas
produced by radioactive decay, Cameron said. In a study of 1,600 counties
nationwide, those with the lowest radon levels had a 30 percent higher rate of
lung cancer than those with background radiation levels up to three times 
as high, he said.

"There is a decrease in lung cancer death rates as the radiation increases,"
said Jon Trueblood, chief of the Section of Medical Physics at the Medical
College of Georgia. The mountain states, with higher concentrations of uranium
and less shielding from cosmic radiation, actually have a 25 percent 
lower cancer death rate than Gulf Coast states with lower background levels,
Cameron said.

One major study in the 1980s compared 29,000 workers at a nuclear shipyard to
30,000 workers at a nonnuclear yard. The nuclear workers had a lower cancer
death rate and a 24 percent lower mortality rate overall. Although completed
in 1988, it has never been published, said Cameron, who sat on the study's
technical advisory panel.

"Because it contradicts the standard dogma that radiation is dangerous," he
said. "There's billions of dollars being spent to reduce radiation. You don't
think those billions of dollars are without influence."
************************************************************************
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