RE: Hormetic Effects of Radiation should not be limited to cancer

["Stabin, Michael" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

>The persistence of the LNT is not due to ignorance about how the body

functions, but to the large regulatory investment in that theory.

Moreover, people (even scientists!) are often unwilling to see the

evidence that destroys their pet theories.

 

I agree, even while I don't believe in ICRP "conspiracy theories". The

problem is that we have some evidence in certain studies, mostly at the

cellular level, that indicate some isolated effects that are clearly

demonstrable, but difficult to relate to the organism level. The same

holds for the bystander effect, whose evidentiary basis is also strong,

but which (on its face) contradicts evidence from valid experiments

seeming to show a hormetic response. Because we see "changes in cells"

from either does not indicate clearly how the organism, with its

complexities of damage, repair, and cellular reproduction cycles, will

ultimately respond. Then we have epidemiological studies, often with

poor bases, from which people derive conclusions that suit them. I

believe that if folks could get off their political agendas for a while

and look at the biological evidence in toto, we could find some answers

that would explain all of these effects and point us towards the

correct, rational, dare I say scientific, policy for the future.

 



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

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

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