RE: Ship Yard Workers - John Boice

["Michael Stabin" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

The following message from Ted Rockwell:



From: "Ted Rockwell" <tedrock@cpcug.org>

To: "Jacobus, John (OD/ORS)" <jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov>,

        "RadSafe" <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Subject: RE: Ship Yard Workers - John Boice

Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 11:27:20 -0500



> Jim Muckerheide's asertion that the NSW report shows

> hormesis ignores selection bias.



The un-substantiated charge of selection bias in NCRP-136 is without merit,

considering that the senior author of NCRP-136 is Arthur Upton, the same

person who headed the Technical Advisory Panel for the Shipyard Study.  The

whole purpose of that study was to compare two populations which were

identical except for exposure to radiation.  They were matched for

occupation, age and other relevant factors.  I know of no other study in

which the irradiated population and the controls were so well matched.  In

addition the dosimetry was especially reliable, since each individual had

personal dosimetry and there was little influence from internal radiation.

The total pool of 700,000 workers to draw from made the statistics unusually

good.  It was Upton's job to see that no factor could invalidate this

multimillion dollar decade-long study.  He expressed no concerns or

reservations about it during that long period.



When the hormetic effect became crystal-clear, the cancer data were not even

mentioned in the conclusion, and the hormetic effect on mortality from all

causes was dismissed as "healthy worker effect"--an obviously invalid

criticism.  So the report was not published in the usual way and is ignored

when reports of nuclear workers are summarized.



This is a clear case of scientific misconduct by all involved.



Ted Rockwell









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