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Re: Risks of low level radiation - New Scientist Article



From: "Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow@PNL.GOV>



Jim,



If I'd read your note below first I wouldn't have been to respond. :-) Sorry

I'm running 'late.' Maybe I should review all on this topic first :-)



Regards, Jim



> Jim Nelson wrote:

> -----Original Message-----

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

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

> 

> 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.

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