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Re: Information Request (radiation hormesis)




Question 2: Do you have any information about Dr. Luckey's work and where
can you get more info on
"Hormesis"

Answer question 2:

By hormesis, you mean radiation hormesis. The idea of hormesis goes back
to ancient Greece, where it was thought that
frequent small doses of a poison would fine tune the body and cause
positive health effects. The same idea has been thought to
apply to radiation, such that small amounts of radiation are actually good
for humans, and that without it, our health actually
suffers. 

Dr. Luckey is the probably the most famous of the public believers in
hormesis, but not the only one. He edited/authored a
book for the CRC Press company on Hormesis that is pretty good. The CRC
can be reached at:

     CRC Press, Inc. 
     2000 Corporate Blvd., N.W. 
     Boca Raton, Florida 33431 USA 
     Phone: (407)-994-0555 or 1-800-272-7737 (US only) 

Other references for Hormesis:

Health Physics, Vol. 52, No. 5, May 1987, is entitled "Special Issue on
Radiation Hormesis," and was edited by Leonard
Sagan. The table of contents is a bit lengthy, but here are the section
headings:

     Editorial Comment (by Genevieve Roessler) 
     Preface (by Jerry J. Cohen) 
     Guest Editorial (by Leonard Sagan) 
     Hormesis Overview 
     Cellular and Tissue Level Effects 
     Plant and Animal Effects 
     Alpha-Particle Exposures 
     Human Effects Mechanisms 
     Correspondence (a brief exchange between John Gofman and Leonard
Sagan) 

Macklis & Beresford published an article "Radiation Hormesis" in the
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Vol32, 2, P350, '91 that
includes 77 references, that you may find useful.

You can subscribe to the BELLE (Biological Effects of Low Level Exposures)
by contacting:

     Northeast Regional Environmental Public Health Center 
     Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 
     phone 413-545-1239 or FAX 413-545-4692 

This is an informative publication, covering low level exposure to many
toxic agents, including radiation. The December 93
issue has a good article by Leonard Sagan of EPRI on "The Low Dose Effects
Paradigm", which considers the pluses and
minuses of this approach. It is published quarterly and is quite well
done.

good luck

Bruce Busby

On Wed, 27 Nov 1996, Darren Boone wrote:

> I am currently conducting research on radiation hormesis in bean plants 
> at Oregon State University.  I am searching for supporting literature for 
> review and I would appreciate any information on appropriate journal 
> articles or text books.  Please respond to my e-mail address at:
> 
> booned@ucs.orst.edu
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> 
>