RE: 700 cancer cases caused by X-rays

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@yahoo.com>]

And what were the average doses?  One rem?  Five rem? 

Twenty rem?  I agree that extrapolation beyond know

levels is risky, however, there are many cases where

patients to receive significant exposures to radiation

from CT exams.  Currently, our "detection limit" is

about 10 rem.



My comment to this issue is what is the significants? 

How many lives were saved by the use of radiation? 

Even the excess number of cancer cases (if they could

be identified among the "normal" cancer death)

probably benefited from the use of the radiation at

the time of exposure.



--- "Stabin, Michael"

<michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu> wrote:

> 

> As with the AJR article "reporting" excess cancers

> in pediatric patients

> who may have received higher than necessary CT

> exposures, or other

> publications that use LNT to hypothesize excess

> cancers from low level

> radiation exposures, shouldn't such submissions be

> rejected during peer

> review for violating the basic principle, taught in

> every sophomore

> engineering class, of not extrapolating beyond the

> bounds of the

> observed data? If I submitted an article to a

> journal saying I had

> tested some detector over a given range, and then

> claimed that the

> detector would surely work perfectly at a range two

> or three orders of

> magnitude below my measurements, it would be

> rejected (at least that

> claim would have to be removed). The use of LNT to

> set *policy* outside

> of the range in which excess cancers can clearly be

> demonstrated is

> necessary at present and reasonable. But its use to

> define *science*, in

> peer-reviewed literature, seems much less

> defensible.

> 

> 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

> Pager (615) 835-5153

> e-mail     michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu 

> internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com

> 

>  

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Fred Dawson

> [mailto:fd003f0606@blueyonder.co.uk] 

> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 2:07 AM

> To: radsafe

> Subject: 700 cancer cases caused by X-rays

> 

> 

>      The Times reports

> 

>                   January 30, 2004

> 

>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-982118,00.html

>                   700 cancer cases caused by X-rays

>                   By Sam Lister

> 

>

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

> 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/

> 





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



__________________________________

Do you Yahoo!?

Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!

http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/