Re: MDL and Dose Effects - opinionated response -Reply

[David Scherer <scherer@uiuc.edu>]

>This "regulatory construct" is an example of why ALARA is useless. On
>the one hand we spend untold time, money, and effort on ALARA in the
>laboratory and institution, and nothing at all on ALARA where the doses
>are the greatest, the medical field.
>The gods must be crazy, to coin a phrase
>
I beg to differ.  A great deal of time, money, and effort arespent on
keeping medical exposures ALARA, as well.  This has been one of the primary
goals of medical physics for many years now.  In fact, I remember a
radiologist's concern about using digital radiography for neonatal chest
x-rays because the dose was increased from 3 mrad to 5.  Concern over 2 mrad
per exam, despite numerous advantages (eliminate retakes, improve images,
wider access to images, etc.) qualifies as an extreme version of ALARA in my
book.

Regards,
Dave Scherer
scherer@uiuc.edu