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Re: Award offer
Jerry,
You wrote: "to buy his conclusions you have to accept the notion that radon
levels somehow affect smoking habits"
----------------------
People who smoke are generally lower in socioeconomic status (SES). The SES
surely can affect radon levels.
Perhaps:
People who smoke (lower SES) can not afford air conditioning (or lower it
usage) so leave windows open more.
etc., etc.
Bill Field
bill-field@uiowa.edu
> Wes, et al,
> To me, your assessment of Puskin's paper seems too kind. Puskin's "analysis"
> appears to be little more than a slick attempt to obfuscate its fundamental lack
> of logic.
> When you cut through all the crap, to buy his conclusions you have to accept
> the notion that radon levels somehow affect smoking habits. I have a bridge I'd
> like to sell to anyone who finds that plausible. Jerry
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wesley
> To: epirad@mchsi.com ; 'Carl Miller' ; 'radsafe'
> Cc: 'BERNARD L COHEN' ; Wesley R. Van Pelt
> Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 7:26 AM
> Subject: RE: Award offer
>
>
> To Bill Field and Radsafe,
>
>
>
> Dr. Puskin has contributed an interesting and valuable paper addressing
> "Cohen's discrepancy," i.e., Cohen's negative county level association between
> radon and lung cancer. Puskin shows that respiratory system cancers correlate
> negatively with radon, but other cancers do not. He then assumes that this is
> due to smoking (i.e., the smoke causes respiratory system cancers but not other
> cancers). He then implies that, for some reason, radon is higher in counties
> where smoking is lower. He offers no data demonstrating why this would be so.
>
>
>
> I can think of no reason why radon would be robustly and consistently higher
> in counties where smoking is lower. To me, this is an implausible association.
>
>
>
> Bill Field's implication that Dr. Puskin has explained Dr. Cohen's discrepancy
> and deserves the award is premature.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Wes
>
> Wesley R. Van Pelt, PhD, CIH, CHP
>
> Wesley R. Van Pelt Associates, Inc.
>
> http://home.att.net/~wesvanpelt/Radiation.html
>
> wesvanpelt@att.net
>
>
>
>
>
> > Carl,
>
> >
>
> > Since Dr. Puskin is a federal employee, he likely can not accept a reward
>
> > offer. However, a donation to the American Cancer Society could be made
>
> > in
>
> > his name.
>
> >
>
> > Regards, Bill Field
>
> > epirad@mchsi.com
>
>
>
>
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