>Democracy
and free speech often seem to get in the way of progress.
Remember the recent scare article about tens of
thousands of cancer deaths occurring annually in children being
overexposed in pediatric CT procedures? Yes, we can do better at optimizing CT
exposures, and many are now striving to do so. But this was a bad misuse
of LNT, and a bit of "free speech" that now has parents across the country
refusing to let their children receive ANY CT exposures, in many cases when
they should receive them, for diagnosing potentially serious diseases. Once
again, *real* deaths may occur from inappopriate responses to claims
about *theoretical* deaths from a suspect model.
Dangerous and irresponsible free speech (like
yelling "fire" in a theater when there is none) is, and should be, prohibited.
Making absurd claims about infant mortality from a *fraudulent* (not *faulty*)
epidemiological study, IMHO, may constitute dangerous and irresponsible
speech.
Mike
Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP
Assistant Professor of Radiology and
Radiological Sciences
Department of Radiology and Radiological
Sciences
Vanderbilt University
1161 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN
37232-2675
Phone (615) 343-0068
Fax (615)
322-3764
e-mail
michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.eduinternet
www.doseinfo-radar.com