Re: FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE ILLNESSES

["Zack Clayton" <zack.clayton@epa.state.oh.us>]

Mr. Slavin wrote:

>. . ..  It does not fulfill your 
>profession's noble goal of saving human lives from horrible painful cancer 
>deaths.

Begin Rant.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize my goal was to prevent cancer or deaths.  I always thought physicians had that goal --  painful, horrible, or otherwise.   ( Is this statement along the lines of "deadly-dangerous-cancer-causing-PCBs"?)

It is my understanding that the noble goal of health physics  is to ensure radiation safety practices and prevent excessive exposure through application of ALARA principles.  If this is successful radiation induced cancer may be prevented, or may not, depending on how much time you spend in the sun, but the industrial chemical, diet, and age induced cancers are the provenance of other professionals with training in those areas of prevention.  DON'T HANG IT ON US.

I don't believe in the LNT heresy.  I do think that more research needs to be done at the lower limits of exposure to determine the optimum level, if any, for hormetic effects.   I think a definition needs to be agreed on of what is detectably harmful.  Then a search needs to be done for the dose that yields an effect in a set percentage of the population just like any other exposure criteria.  Set limits for IDLH, TLV, etc.    I think the concept of separating background or natural dose from working dose is a distraction that has hindered this endeavor.  I think I'll stop now.

End Rant.

These are definitely my own thotz and don't represent any official group, entity, or other person.

Zack Clayton
Ohio EPA - DERR
email:  zack.clayton@epa.state.oh.us
voice:  614-644-3066
fax:        614-460-8249

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