Another important paper!

Friends,

Note following abstract, confirming adaptive response (enhanced defenses to

challenges to cells and tissues) in persons exposed to high natural

background. This adaptive response defensive capacity is also shown in

radiation workers (with enough exposure to make any difference)!

This is the primary contribution to lower cancer and other diseases

(especially infection and inflammatory diseases) consistently demonstrated

in rad workers (in studies where the quality of the data and analysis is

sufficient to show consistent effects), as well as in the many ecological

studies that show lower cancers and other diseases in large epidemiological

studies (where the data is sufficient to show consistent responses).

Regards, Jim

===========

VERY HIGH BACKGROUND RADIATION AREAS OF RAMSAR IRAN -- PRELIMINARY

BIOLOGICAL STUDIES M. Ghiassi-nejad, S. M. J. Mortazavi, J. R. Cameron, A.

Niroomand-rad, and P. A. Karaml HEALTH PHYSICS Journal, January 2002 pages

87 - 93

Abstract -- People in some areas of Ramsar, a city in northern Iran near

Tehran, receive an annual radiation absorbed dose from background radiation

that is up to 260 msv/y, substantially higher than the 20 mSv/y that is

permitted for radiation workers.

Inhabitants of Ramsar have lived for many generations in these high

background areas. Cytogenetic studies show no significant differences

between people in the high background compared to people in normal

background areas.

An in-vitro challenge dose of 1.5 Gy of gamma rays was administered to the

lymphocytes, which showed significantly reduced frequency for chromosome

aberrations of people living in high background compared to those in normal

background areas in and near Ramsar. Specifically, inhabitants of high

background radiation areas had about 56% the average number of induced

chromosomal abnormalities of normal background radiation area inhabitants

following this exposure.

This suggests that adaptive response might be induced by chronic exposure to

natural background -radiation as opposed to acute exposure to higher (tens

of mGy) levels of radiation in the laboratory. There were no differences in

laboratory tests of the immune systems, and no noted differences in

hematological alterations between these two groups of people.

Health Phys. 82(l):87-93; 2002

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