Re: "Are you a statistician?"

[Muckerheide <muckerheide@MEDIAONE.NET>]

 From: "Jim Nelson" <nelsonjima@HOTMAIL.COM>



> Mr. Dukelow,

> It looks like other scientist who adhere to the "scientific method" feel the

> same way.  I see this posting at the Iowa website

> http://www.cheec.uiowa.edu/misc/radon.html confirms my beliefs.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Alavanja is joint author with Field, Lynch, et al. Haha :-) Among other

papers, e.g.:



In Lung Cancer 2001, Oct

Lung cancer risk and red meat consumption among Iowa women.

Alavanja MC, Field RW, Sinha R, Brus CP, Shavers VL, Fisher EL, Curtain J,

Lynch CF.

Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, 6120 Executive Boulevard

(EPS), Room 8000, 20892, Bethesda, MD, USA



Samet, the Ayatollah of Fed-funded LNT defenders! Feds funds brought Samet

to Chair JNU Epi Dept: Epi in service to the agencies!



Ray Johnson is a good guy. Big commitment to communications; and owner of HP

training org.  I never knew he had epi training/experience!? :-)



Good grief.



Jim



> COMMENTS FROM OTHER SCIENTIST

> "The Iowa Radon Lung Cancer Study, conducted by Drs. R. William Field,

> Charles F. Lynch and colleagues represents by far the most substantial study

> of residential radon health effects accomplished to date. By rigorous

> analysis of radon exposures for women with lung cancer and matched controls,

> this study has shown a clear association between lung cancer and radon

> exposures in homes.

> 

> A major advantage of this study was the high radon levels found in Iowa

> homes, which showed about a 50% increase in lung cancer risk at the EPA

> action level of 4 pCi/L. The Iowa lung Cancer Study is a major milestone for

> confirming lung cancer incidence due to radon exposures as predicted by the

> National Academy of Sciences BEIR VI report. The researchers should be

> highly commended for this definitive study showing substantial lung cancer

> risks due to radon exposures in homes."

> 

> Raymond Johnson, Certified Health Physicist

> (Past) President, Health Physics Society

> 

> I would be glad to discuss this directly with you after you unpack and check

> the assertions I made. Please email me directly.

> 

> Jim Nelson

> 

> 

>> "Are you a statistician?"  Ah, the subtle appeal to authority.  I am as

>> much of

>> a statistician as the average epidemiologist.  My education is in

>> mathematics

>> and nuclear engineering, with an MA and ABD in Math and an MS in Nuclear

>> Engineering.  In my career in the nuclear business I have worked primarily

>> as a

>> risk and safety analyst.  Risk analysis, of course, is essentially

>> probabilistic

>> and statistical.  Before my mid-life crisis and switch to nuclear

>> engineering, I

>> taught math full- and part-time in universities and colleges in the U.S.

>> and

>> Venezuela.  Since 1986, I have been on the adjunct faculty in Computer

>> Science

>> at the local campus of Washington State University -- and more recently

>> adjunct

>> faculty in Mathematics, teaching on the order of 12-15 courses during that

>> time

>> -- all of them mathematics, sometimes lightly disguised as computer

>> science.  I

>> have taught Baby Statistics and upper division Probability and Statistics a

>> number of times.

>> 

>> That said, I consider myself a mathematician and engineer rather than a

>> statistician.  I know enough statistics to be dangerous to myself and

>> others and

>> have, on various occasions, demonstrated both sides of that assertion.

>> 

>> I am familiar with Bill Field's Iowa radon study and with his criticisms of

>> Cohen's work and have discussed both with him.  I am unpersuaded.  For the

>> moment, I think we are agreeing to disagree.

>> 

>> You make an interesting assertion about Cohen's data that I cannot check

>> immediately, as I am in the process of unpacking my office from a recent

>> carpet

>> replacement.  My strong impression/memory of his papers is that his control

>> for

>> confounding is very strong, much more so than any of the papers Field's

>> cites,

>> including his own.

>> 

>> Are you a statistician, Mr. Nelson?

>> 

>> 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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