RE: Risks of low level radiation - New Scientist Article

["Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow@PNL.GOV>]

Jim Nelson wrote:

-----Original Message-----

From: Jim Nelson [mailto:nelsonjima@HOTMAIL.COM]

Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 11:15 AM

To: hflong@pacbell.net

Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Re: Risks of low level radiation - New Scientist Article





Dr. Long,



What is it about Cohen's work that you find so substantial?  Do you relaize 

all his work is ecologic in nature?  Even he says it can not be used to 

assess lung cancer risk.  These studies below have far more validity than 

the ecologic studies you support.



http://www.cheec.uiowa.edu/misc/rd_review.pdf



http://www.cheec.uiowa.edu/misc/radon.html



I understand a national pooling is also underway by Lubin and others that 

may shed more light.  If you do in fact support Cohen's studies, your view 

is not shared by most epidemiologist I know.



Jim



===============



Jim Dukelow comments:



The phrase "ecological study" has been used as a talisman -- a golden cross

held aloft to fend off the vampire, as it were -- by those who argue that

the linear no-threshold hypothesis actually has scientific content, as

opposed to simply being a regulatory convenience.



In fact, a trivial mathematical calculation demonstrates that Cohen's

ecological data is completely adequate for the task he sets it, testing the

linear no-threshold hypothesis on actual data.  He finds, rather

unequivocally, that the actual data is not consistent with the LNTH being

valid.



Epidemiology is a field in deep methodological doo-doo, to borrow George

Bush pere's phrase.  We could trade citations, if you like, although I will

have to get my office unpacked first.



I encourage you to look at Gary King's book, A Solution to the Ecological

Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate

Behavior, Princeton University Press, 1997.  You could also look at my

review of King's book in the November 1998 issue of Health Physics.



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.

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.