The value(?) of the Nuclear Shipyard Workers Study (NSWS)

["Strom, Daniel J" <strom@PNL.GOV>]

I continue to disagree with John Cameron on the value of the Nuclear

Shipyard Workers Study (NSWS), as published in two debates in peer-reviewed

journals (citations from PubMed; I imagine it annoys John to have his name

appear with mine on a paper!):



Strom DJ and JR Cameron. 2002. Topics under debate: "Is it useful to assess

annual effective doses that are less than 100 mSv?" Radiat.Prot.Dosimetry

98(2):239-245.



Strom DJ, JR Cameron, and BL Cohen. 1998. Point-Counterpoint: "The LNT model

is appropriate for the estimation of risk from low-level (less than 100

mSv/year) radiation, and low levels of radon in homes should be considered

harmful to health." Med.Phys. 25(3):273-278.

(Send me an e-mail privately if you want copies of these papers). In Strom

and Cameron 2002 I state, "The NSWS study is characterized by an unhealthy

control group, making it one of the very few studies in occupational

epidemiology not to find a "healthy worker effect" (Table 1). This odd

finding challenges the consistency criterion (reference 15) (findings should

be consistent across studies) and makes the entire study suspect. [Internal]

Comparisons with an unhealthy control group will, of course, show a

protective effect!" Table 1 is Table 4.1.A from the NSWS.



The fact that Non-nuclear workers (NNWs) had an all-cause standardized

mortality ratio (SMR) of 1.00 (0.97-1.03) is virtually unheard-of in

occupational epidemiology. This means that these people were dying at the

same rate as all people, including all of those too sick to work! Normally,

all-cause SMRs are in the range of 0.70 to 0.85 for occupational

populations. The most important finding of this study, the one that's really

out of line, and that begs for explanation, is how NNWs can be so unhealthy.



- Dan Strom



The opinions expressed above, if any, are mine alone and have not been

reviewed or approved by Battelle, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,

or the U.S. Department of Energy.



Daniel J. Strom, Ph.D., CHP

Environmental Technology Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Mail Stop K3-56, PO BOX 999, Richland, Washington 99352-0999 USA

Overnight: Battelle for the U.S. DOE, 790 6th St., Richland WA 99352 ATTN:

Dan Strom K3-56

Telephone (509) 375-2626 FAX (509) 375-2019 mailto:strom@pnl.gov

Brief Resume: http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strombio.htm

Pagemaster for  http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian   http://qecc.pnl.gov

http://bidug.pnl.gov



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