Re: Request of Information

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

At 12:44 PM 2/26/97 -0600, you wrote:
>There is no evidence that miners were affected, though there is some
reason to 
>*suspect* there could be some effect at the highest doses.

I recall a lecture from years ago (early 80's) in which it was stated that
lung cancer data in uranium miners was inconclusive when taken as a whole.
But when the data were segregated into smoking and non-smoking groups,
there was no detectable lung cancer among non-smokers above the control
group, but there was a clearly identifiable increasing among smokers, even
over a control group of smokers. It was presented as an example of the
"promotional effect" one agent may have when combined with another, in
which the promotional agent may not be a direct cause of the illness but
may work in concert with another agent to produce illness at a rate not
observed with either agent alone.


Bob Flood
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.