Re: Experimental Proof of Hormesis

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

>If you are interested in the proof that hormesis from ionizing radiation is 
>a real phenomena, please read Radiation Hormesis and Hormesis With Ionizing 
>Radiation by T.D. Luckey
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I read some interesting overview by Luckey long ago (Health Physics early 
1980s ?). One central aspect is the definition of hormesis. I don't question 
any of the findings - but each described phenomenon should be subjected to 
careful analysis before interpretation.

Some effects that have been seen (like increased rate of cell division, 
growth of seedlings etc) may simply be stress responses and not necessarily 
something good for the individual organism (which may get a reduced lifespan 
as a result) or the cell. The biological signal may mean "you better 
reproduce quickly or else you will die because of the incoming damages 
because you are now aging with an increased pace". Other stress responses 
(like enhanced repair capacity after a priming dose of ionizing radiation) 
may lower the probability of DNA damaging events after a second dose. But 
does this mean that an extra background of radiation is good for you?

My personal reflection only,

Bjorn Cedervall   bcradsafers@hotmail.com

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