Re: Information Request (radiation horm

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

Don Luckey wrote 2 books on radiation hormesis (1980 and 1991), both published 
by CRC Press, they may both be out of print, the first one is. The first
covers the literature (1269 refs) from 1898 to 1977, primarily as a
"compilation" of the data; the second covers the literature from 1978-1990,
with more focus on mammal data, and more specific proposals for the
proposition for radiation hormesis assessment and preliminary integration of
the data. Not that Luckey worked on hormesis (part of the general area of
"hormologosis" with drugs, esp. anti-biotics, and health and nutrition from
the perspective of the Chair of the Dept of Biochemistry in a Medical School,
with the attention to actual biology and health, not physics and radiation
protection, in the 1950s, with interesting 1959 summary articles, and a 1960
article in the JAMA. He also did important work that showed insect hormesis at 
sublethal levels of pesticides. Radiation is just another health-stimulus
stress-response mechanism and nutritional component of biological organisms.
He looked at numerous biophysical endpoints. His first book (use interlibrary
loan) has a lot of plant data, including a lot of refs from "Stimulation
Newsletter" which was from Germany if I recall correctly). Reading his first
book makes you reconsider that scientists once did real science by using and
developing real data. 

Note that he has a summary article from his first book in the HPJournal, 1982, 
and a number of other articles in various journals since. Note on the plant
data, an article on plant research by Sheppard from Canada in the HPJ May 87
Special Issue on Hormesis. Also note the UNSCEAR 1994 report, Appendix B on
"Adaptive Response"; and note Zbigniew Jaworowski's article "Beneficial
Radiation" in "Nucleonika" that presents that report (he was a member of
UNSCEAR). He reports, as does Luckey, on work by Planel over decades in France 
that demonstrate not only the stimulatory effects on small organisms, but
confirms also the negative effects of below-natural-background radiation
exposure. I can send a copy of Jaworowski's article if you need it since that
may be more difficult to find. 

Note that cancer and genetic research, in cellular and molecular biology, and
cellular and organism dose-response (energy, not energy concentration), all
confirm the mechanisms for DNA and cellular damage and repair that confirm the 
mechanisms for stimulation and requirements for a non-linear biological
response, and eliminate the "biological plausibility" of a linear response.
Biological models of multistage and DNA/cellular repair processes for
carcinogenesis confirm the physical evidence. This work is at critical mass
and just needs integration and assessment. 

See Sohei Kondo's careful and rigorous treatment in his book (Health Effects
of Low Level Radiation 1993 Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI) in
summarizing the physical evidence (from the Japanese bomb survivors, to radon
spas, to radium-burden populations), and the cellular biology that he proposes 
to explain the hormetic response. (OTOH, we didn't have to wait for Issac
Newton to "decide" that apples don't fall up.) 

There are many other sources (perhaps I can interest Bruce Busby in putting
some summaries on the web page). We just had 6 sessions (25-30 papers) at the
ANS Winter meeting in Washington, with participants from Berlin to Tokyo (not
all 'hormesis") and BELLE just had a meeting Nov 12-14 at Research Triangle
Park (more chemical than radiation, but including some of the Japanese biology 
research evidence confirming the stimulatory response and hormesis, including
successful medical treatments for cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma using
stimulation of the immune system by low-dose supplemental radiation.) 

Note also:

> 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. 

More importantly from Paracelsus in the 15th century where "the dose makes the 
poison" was articulated in terms of science and obvious effects in biology and 
human health. The idea that radiation would/could be different is actually
more strange than not (and would/could not be if science was the determining
influence). 

> 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.

Three times per year; and is supported by Federal agencies, so it addresses
the subject in rigorous, sceptical, scientific terms.  

> 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.

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com
Radiation, Science, and Health, Inc.

(I'll send info on "Radiation, Science, and Health" (an ascii version and/or a 
print version) to interested persons.)