Re: A clarification following John Jacobus's comments about my news item.

["Jerry Cohen" <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>]

John,

    Another possible explanation of why the authors "did not see the good

news" might be a desire to avoid embarrassment. Saying that the results show

no evidence of increased health effects is a safe conclusion. To assert that

low-dose exposure may actually result in beneficial effects could remove the

authors from the category of being respected scientists to one of being

"some kind of nut".

    The LNT concept is well embedded in our culture. According to

Thomas Kuhn (HPJ 52:521), there is a strong tendency to reject any evidence

that runs counter to the prevailing paradigm. Depending on how you

look at it, asserting that "the emperor has no clothes" could be considered

either a courageous or a foolhardy action.



> The fact that your BJR letter "presented information not contained in the

> original article" does not mean it is true.  If they are so startling, why

> did the authors not see it?  Maybe they did not see the "good news"

<because

> there is none.  Have YOU contacted the authors with your revelations?  I

> believe that Berrington, Doll and associates are reasonably intelligent

men.

> As epidemiologists who have collected the data, they may even give you

> insights into how their drew their conclusions and what the limitations

> might be.  It might even be possible that this 36% difference in

non-cancer

> death rates is not considered significant based on the actual numbers.  Of

> course, there could be a conspiracy to hide the "good news."







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