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Re: Hormesis: The Power of Poison - Feature in UMASS Alumni Monthly



I think it is interesting the Dr. Calabrese does not

advocate the use of hormesis in the development of

regulations.



--- Stewart Farber <farbersa@optonline.net> wrote:

> Hi all:

> There is a very interesting article in the Spring

> 2004 issue of the UMASS Alumni Mag about Dr. Edward 

> Calabrese's [Professor in the Dept. of Environmental

> Health Science at UMASS] research in hormesis and

> its 

> growing respectablity in the toxicology community. 

> 

> See link below:

> 

>

http://www.umassmag.com/Spring_2004/The_Power_of_Poison_613.html

> 

> Excerpt:

> "Although Calabrese found hormetic response

> intriguing, he did not make it a central issue in

> his 

> scientific career over the next two decades. It was

> not until 1985 that a conference on radiation

> hormesis 

> (it appears that large doses of radiation can

> promote cancer growth, but small doses can help the

> body 

> fight off the disease) revived his interest in those

> poison-loving peppermint plants. By 1990, the health

> 

> benefits of toxic chemicals had become his main

> professional preoccupation.

> 

> He?s aware that scientific findings can often be

> distorted in public policy debates and that his

> research 

> could be co-opted by political and industrial

> partisans who never met an anti-pollution law they

> didn?t 

> hate. ?My role,? he says, ?is to provide the best

> science possible. The implications are huge and

> they?re 

> really just beginning to be known.? Beyond any

> impact on environmental policy and medical practice,

> he sees 

> hormesis as the key to a more profound understanding

> of the human body. ?This occurs in every cell, every

> 

> organ, every whole organism,? he says. ?It speaks to

> our basic biology.?

> ===============

> 

> Stewart Farber, MSPublic Health [UMass School of

> Public Health '73]

> 

> 

> ************************************************************************



=====

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

"We cannot escape danger, or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com





	

		

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