Re[2]: Radiation Hormesis -- or not

[ivylist <ivylist@ecko.uran.ru>]

JMR> Can anyone supply details about the study of the Mayak workers in Russia

JMR> who seem to have shown a protective effect of gamma exposure to the lung

JMR> cancer caused by the inhalation of plutonium?



Most recent paper (on my opinion there is no reliable protective effect of gamma

exposure):

M. Kreisheimer, M. E. Sokolnikov, N. A. Koshurnikova et al.

Lung cancer mortality among nuclear workers of the Mayak facilities in

the former Soviet Union. An updated analysis considering smoking as

the main confounding factor

Radiat Environ Biophys (2003) 42:129-135



Abstract. A new analysis of lung cancer mortality in a

cohort of male Mayak workers who started their employment

in the plutonium and reprocessing plants between

1948 and 1958 has been carried out in terms of a relative

risk model. The follow-up has been extended until 1999,

moreover a new dosimetry system (DOSES2000) has

been established. Particular emphasis has been given to a

discrimination of the effects of external g-exposure and

internal a-exposure due to incorporated plutonium. This

study has also utilized and incorporated the information

from a cohort of Mayak reactor workers, who were

exposed only externally to g-rays. The influence of

smoking as the main confounding factor for lung cancer

has been studied. The baseline lung cancer mortality rate

was not taken from national statistics but was derived

from the cohort itself. The estimated excess relative risk

for the plutonium a-rays was 0.23/Sv (95%CI: 0.16–

0.31). The resulting risk coefficient for external g-ray

exposure was very low with a statistically insignificant

estimate of 0.058/Sv (95%CI: 0.072–0.20). The inferred

relative risk for smokers was 16.5 (95%CI: 12.6–20.5).









_________________________________

Ilia Yarmoshenko

Ekaterinburg

Russia

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To

unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the

text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,

with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/