[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Elephants and blue whales
Bjorn Cedervall wrote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 08:10:33 GMT
> From: "Bjorn Cedervall" <bcradsafers@hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: May I propose a physicist?/Breast cancer
<snip>
> Anyway, I
suppose that
> part of the message may be that more cells relate in a directly proportional
> way to a higher probability of having malignant events occurring.
<snip>
This raises the obvious question, Why aren't all the elephants and blue whales
dropping like flies?
Some possible answers.
Shrews, mice, men, elephants, and blue whales all have the same number of cells.
Possible. I don't think so, but would have to admit I don't know. Some of the
physical and chemical processes in cells are scale-dependent, so it doesn't seem
very likely, but ...
If the elephants and blue whales were dropping like flies, How would we know?
Elephants are famous for disappearing before they die -- elephant graveyards and
all that. I suspect we don't have much information on how blue whales die,
except, of course. the one's we shoot.
Or, perhaps, the supposition is wrong and the probability of a malignancy is not
directly proportional to the number of cells in the organism. This answer seems
most likely to me. Although the "obvious question" above seems flip, it is my
understanding that it contains a serious objection to theories of carcinogenesis
that assume linear dependence on some sort -- any sort -- of exposure.
Best regards.
Jim Dukelow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
jim.dukelow@pnl.gov
These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my
management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html