Re: Optimal Radiation

["Bjorn Cedervall" <bcradsafers@hotmail.com>]

>It has been hypothesized that  the "optimal" dose level
>for humans would be ~10 rem/yr. When you go much above this level, >harmful 
>radiation effects would likely predominate.

Sorry to give a late response here:
Can anyone give a reference for the 10 mrem/yr? The question of optimum is 
very complex because it is a function of allele penetrance in a population 
(that may take the order of more than 10 000 years) and also of spontaneous 
mutations, mutations due to chemical/biochemical substances, a changing 
environment (relating peoples' migrations), balance between "good and bad" 
mutations (which is gradual _and_ a function of the environment), average 
life span, nutrition etc, the time when your offspring is born... The more I 
think about, the less I believe in it as a pure radiation dose. I think that 
a better measure would be numbers directly relating to gene (germ line) 
changes per generation regardless of what caused the genetic changes. Such 
numbers could perhaps, with a lot of precaution, be translated into Gray 
(rem) equivalents.

10 mrem/yr as _equivalent_ germ line damage may well reflect the right order 
of "optimal radiation _equivalents_" but how do you show it? If anyone is 
interested in serious, in-depth research on this, email me directly.

My personal ideas only,

Bjorn Cedervall  bcradsafers@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/bjorn_cedervall/

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