Re: Radon and Smoking (individual vs aggregate)

[BERNARD L COHEN <blc+@PITT.EDU>]

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002, R. William Field wrote:



> Dr. Cohen,

>

> I addressed a very specific problem below with your study.  You state that a

> basic theory takes into account, "the most important things."   I consider

> smoking intensity and duration two of the most important parameters to

> consider in validating your derived LNT formula.



	--I am testing the BEIR formulas, and they do not include these

things



  To exclude these factors a

> priori, as you have done, invalidates your test.



	--I have not excluded them; BEIR has done that. I have included

them in my papers. If you have reservations about my treatments, I would

be happy to address them.



  As I stated  before, you

> can not adjust for these "perturbations" after the fact unless you know the

> joint distribution of these factors for each county.

>

	--Read my papers on these issues and then offer your specific

criticisms.





> Bill

>

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

> From: BERNARD L COHEN <blc+@pitt.edu>

> To: Field, R. William <bill-field@UIOWA.EDU>

> Cc: <radsafe-digest@list.vanderbilt.edu>

> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 8:17 AM

> Subject: Re: Radon and Smoking (individual vs aggregate)

>

>

> >

> > The problem is in how scientists handle theories and their tests

> > of them. No theory takes into account every possible variation in

> > circumstances. A basic theory takes into account the most important

> > things, and the other factors are treated as "perturbations" or

> > corrections to the basic theory. That is how I have managed my study. If

> > you have a specific criticism of any of my work, I would be happy to

> > address it; the best way to start is if you criticize something in my

> > paper on treatment of confounding factors in an ecological study. Much

> > better still, give a specific example of something that could nullify my

> > results -- your example need not be true, but it must not be highly

> > implausible.



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