Fwd: Re: Low Level Radiation Health Effects: Compiling the Data

[Know_Nukes Relay <kn_relay@YAHOO.COM>]

>From: "Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., GNSH" <rbertell@adelphia.net>

>To: <abolition-caucus@yahoogroups.com>, <Know_Nukes@yahoogroups.com>, "Jim

Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@hotmail.com>



>

>Dear Folks,

>

>Because many of you are genuinely interested in the dialogue over low level

>radiation, and because not all people restrict their information to ICRP

>publications, I will give some suggested helpful readings:

>

>1.   "Principles of Radiation Protection", by Karl Z. Morgan (Morgan is

>known as

>the Father of Heath Physics), John Wiley & Sons. New York,1967.  This was

>for a long time the text book for Health Physics.  This deals with such

>questions as the ratio of alpha to gamma radiation dose in terms of the

>relative biological effectiveness (RBE) as the dose moves toward zero (low

>dose range).  It states that RBE  for cytological effects (damage to cells)

>tends to a MAXIMUM as the dose becomes smaller.    This means that it is

>higher than expected at low doses.  Put a little more clearly, there is more

>survivable damage to living cells at low doses of alpha particle radiation

>within the human body than at higher doses, where more cells are killed or

>made sterile.  It is only at high levels of cell killing that the ratio

>"often tends to a constant".  Uranium, radium and thorium are alpha particle

>emitters, and this phenomena may be important in the effect of DU

>ammunition.

>

>In Chapter !!, this text book discusses not only carcinogenesis and

>leukaemogenesis, but also the large category "other forms of morbidity and

>life-shortening",  based on American Radiologists and Hiroshima and Nagasaki

>survivors, The text notes the increase with radiation exposure of "certain

>non-malignant diseases as well. The most important group of disorders in

>this latter category comprises the degenerative diseases of the

>cardiovascular and renal systems.  ....  The absolute mortality rate for the

>cardiovascular-renal diseases is much higher than for all cancers, the

>actual surplus of deaths among the United States radiologists is higher in

>the cardiovascular-renal than in the cancer group."

>

>The text continues: "Many authors have recently suggested that various

>idiopathic non-malignant morbid and mortal diseases in man [Editorial

>Comment: and certainly in women]  may be fundamentally autoimmune in

>character.  Detailed analysis suggests that these diseases have a

>spontaneous

>disturbed-tolerance autoimmune aetiology and that they are initiated by the

>formation of 'forbidden-clones'".

>

>There is more interesting detail and ample references in this text book.

>

>2.  "Radiosensitivity Mechanisms at Low Doses: Inflammatory Responses to

>microGray Radiation Levels in Human Blood", by Michael G. Vicker, Dept. of

>Biology, University of Bremen.  Internal. Perspectives in Public Health, Vol

>9: 4-20, 1993.

>

>This give much more detail on the "forbidden clones" and the mechanisms by

>which low doses of radiation induce them.

>

>3.  "X-ray Exposure and Premature Aging", Rosalie Bertell, Roswell Park

>Memorial Cancer Institute.  Journal of Surgical Oncology, Vol. 9,379 - 391,

>1977

>

>Provides the first estimate of aging per rad exposure from external low dose

>medical X-ray.  Description of the methodology is in "Response of Rosalie

>Bertell to the Critique of Michael Ginevan", Health Physics Journal Vol. 41,

>422-424, 1981.  Ginevan had written article in which he wrongly presented

>what he called the "Bertell Methodology", and then proceeded to critique his

>caricature.

>

>4.  "Internal Bone Seeking Radionuclides and Monocyte Counts"  , Rosalie

>Bertell, President, Internal Institute of Concern for Public Health,

>Toronto.  Vol. 9, 21-26, 1993.  This strengthens the thesis about low dose

>alpha radiation affecting the cellular immune system.

>

>5.  "Radiation and Heredity" by H. Muller, Am. Journal of Public Health Vol.

>54, 42 - 50, 1964. Muller received the Nobel Prize in 1944 for demonstrating

>the genetic effects of radiation, and its much higher mutagenicity rate than

>chemical agents.

>

>6.  For several articles on cardiovascular-renal problems related to low

>dose radiation see the work of Erwin DJ Bross, Director of Biostatistics,

>Roswell Park Memorial Cancer Institute.  He published a number of papers on

>this around 1975 - 1980.  (I am retired and do not have access to my

>library, so you will have to look up the exact references for these.)

>

>7.  The history of the International Commission on Radiological Protection

>can be found in "No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth",

>The Women's Press, London, 1986 (Translated into French, German, Swedish,

>Finnish)

>

>You can also find it in early volumes of ICRP.  It was the Radiologist's

>organization which was started in 1928, not the ICRP.  As I note is my

>response to Jim Hoerner, the physicists from the Manhattan Project asked to

>join this radiologist's organization in about 1950, and set their first

>radiation exposure limits as part of this organization.  They also changed

>the name at that time.  The physicists have maintained about 50% membership

>in the Main Committee (which makes the decisions) since then, while the

>participation of Radiologists has been reduced to about 15%.  The group

>added Medical Regulators from the nuclear nations, who generally make up 25%

>of the decision making Main Committee.  Decisions have been dominated by the

>physicists.

>

>This is enough to give you a start into a different literature, since all of

>these sources contain extensive bibliographies of their own.  I believe that

>students should be taught from all of these sources and not indoctrinated by

>one source.  Reality is seldom so one sided as the portrayal by ICRP.

>

>Dr. Rosalie Bertell



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