Re: Re(2): Natural background.

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

          Forgive me for the following minor points but reading posts
          where everybody agrees with each other provides the same
          excitement as eating rice cakes.

          Jim Muckerheide writes (and I agree with everything else he
          says by golly):

          >that the linear model is not supported by the scientific
          >evidence (of say, 4-5 million people in the US, with I-131
          >procedures - say 10 rem WB, 50 rem thyroid, studies show no
          >adverse health effects;

          Some cancers are best modelled with a linear equation, some
          aren't e.g. BEIR V uses a linear quadratic model for
          leukemia. I assume the argument here is that the
          no-threshold assumption (a different kettle of fish) doesn't
          hold water.  The fact that adverse effects haven't been
          observed in patients whose thyroids were being evaluated or
          treated with iodine doesn't mean that no adverse health
          effects occur in that or any other group. We simply don't
          know.  On the other hand, the Marshall Islanders certainly
          showed a significant increase in thyroid disorders due to
          their uptakes.  What we do see is that the thyroid is not
          particulary sensitive, hence its weighting factor of 0.03
          Since the thyroid is the only thing that counts :-) the
          estimated WB dose should be  3% of the thyroid dose, not 20
          %.

          >of the radium ingestion population, no carcinomas or
          >sarcomas below 1000 RAD - Q=20?, 20,000 rem?;

          A point worth noting is that the 1000 rad is a dose to the
          skeleton and not the whole body. The skeleton, like the
          thyroid is relatively radioresistant. And for what its
          worth, the quality factor is not meant to be applied beyond
          doses in the range of the annual limits.

          There may indeed be a threshold but an inability to detect
          effects below certain doses in specific tissues  (especially
          radioresistant ones) in certain populations doesn't prove
          much.

          Regarding W. Virginia, perhaps we should stop the flow of
          tax dollars to that fine state in the interest of safety:
          each dollar bill (ca. 1 gram) probably contains around 0.1
          pCi of radium and a couple of pCi of C-14.

          Trying to reach kids by the time they get to kindergarten is
          too late, Ted Turner and Captain Planet have already
          poisoned their minds.

          Thats my 20 millibucks

          Paul Frame