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Decision makers have the facts about radiation but ignore them
Title: Decision makers have the facts about radiation but
ign
"Ted Rockwell" in reply
to "Robert J. Gunter" quoted Robert: 'It is our
job to provide facts to the decision makers. Clear choices make
for defendable decisions.'
Ted congratulates him "Right
on, Robert! We have to shoulder our share of the burden.
The process starts with us."
I
agree with the thoughts of both Robert and Ted but disagree with the
usefulness of the advice. The decision makers are the ICRP
internationally and the NCRP in the U.S. They have the facts but
choose to ignore them. U.S. government agencies have little choice
but to go along with the recommendations of the NCRP, a private
organization chartered by congress to give advice on radiation.
There
is no easy way, even for the HPS, to effectively contradict the
advice of the NCRP. Eventually the ICRP and NCRP must be reformed to
become more democrat in their organizational structure. Since both
the NCRP and ICRP choose their own members they will continue to
choose members who agree to support their views (e.g., LNT) even if
they have doubts about their validity. My guess is that a very
small fraction of NCRP members support LNT but go along with it.
I
agree with the philosophy of the late Harald Rossi who wrote in the
HPS Newsletter (I believe) that the HPS must take over decision
making on radiation protection. I replied that an ad hoc committee
representing the World's major scientific radiation
organizations might be able to do it. It is clear that HPS would do a
much better job than NCRP but at present there is no way for
HPS to grab the "high ground" for giving advice to congress
or to NRC, DOE, EPA, etc. .
I am
an optimist. I think within 50 years the evidence for health benefits
of low dose rate radiation will be overwhelming and force a change in
the ICRP and NCRP. In the meantime we must continue to educate the
public, the news media and the congress of the facts. Perhaps
the next President of the NCRP may declare independence from the
ICRP. At present the NCRP (and most other national radiation
protection groups) go along with the ICRP rather than criticize
it.
Science writers have ignored the good news in the 100 year
study of British radiologists. (See June 2001 Br. J. of Radiology.)
After 100 years the radiologists had a death rate from all causes 8%
lower (P<0.01) than that of all male MDs in England and Wales and
23% lower than all men in England and Wales (P<0.001). Even
the earliest British radiologists (1897-1920) did not suffer any
reduction in longevity despite having 75% greater cancer mortality
than all male MDs. The reason being their 14% lower death rate from
non-cancer, which I attribute to radiation stimulation of their
immune systems. This good news has yet to get any publicity, even in
the radiation community.
Their
are much bigger societal problems than over protection from
radiation. As radiation scientists we have a responsibility to
society to promote good science in our field. We have often failed in
this responsibility. There is seldom criticism of the ICRP and NCRP
in our journals. Harald Rossi is one of the few to do so. In
1996 he wrote that our radiation protection quantities are in a state
of chaos. (Rossi, H.H. Sensible
radiation protection. Health Physics.70(3): 394; 1996.) It
fell on deaf ears.
Best wishes, John Cameron
Ted Rockwell
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--
John R. Cameron (jrcamero@facstaff.wisc.edu)
2678 SW 14th St. Gainesville, FL 32608
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(December 1, 2001 to early May 2002)
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