Re: how many sensitive cells?

[hwade@triax.com (H. Wade Patterson)]

JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com wrote, in part:
> 
> A very good source Wade,
> 
> I don't have the Bond et al (1991, NAS) source at hand. If you do can you
> share it?
> 
Here's the NAS citation and abstract by Bond et al.
All should be aware that there are at least 3 other later papers by Bond
et al. that expand on this conclusion.

Bond, V. P.; Benary, V.; Sondhaus, C. A different perception of the
linear non-threshold hypothesis for low-dose radiation. Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci. 88:8666-8670; 1991.
Abstract:
"Two equally useful dosimetric quantities, both of which are called
dose, are used in toxicology. With radiation measurement, only one---the
energy per unit mass D---is called dose. The other---the total energy in
the irradiated system---is here distinguished from D by assigning it the
name collective energy, e. The collective energy is a more complete
statement of dose because it is the product of the energy concentration
D and the mass irradiated m. Especially in radioepidemiology, in which e
is the total energy imparted to all persons irradiated, the quantity m
must be specified because it is situation specific and thus highly
variable. At present, radioepidemiological dose-response curves are
given only in terms of the toxicological model---i.e., the fraction
(probability) of radiation attributable cancers occurring as a function
of D. Because this relation does not involve the number of persons at
each value of D, it fosters the illusion that any dose, no matter how
small, can result in cancer. However, we show that if the dose-response
relation ship is expressed in terms of the absolute number of
attributable cancers as a function of e, cancer occurs, on average, only
if the collective energy exceeds a relatively large minimum value, the
magnitude of which will be estimated. Therefore, we conclude that the
nonthreshold aspect of the linear hypothesis is misleading and quite
probably invalid. For example, in or around a facility in which exposure
of humans to relatively low values of D occurs, attributable cancers are
most unlikely to appear unless the e to the irradiated population exceed
this minimum value."

-- 
Wade

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