Re: NRC Graph

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

Great picture Gary,

> >>Looked at from this perspective, the graph as presented tends to support
> >>the misconception that radiation exposures have a phenomenal impact for
> >>any specific effect. More to the point, how is an uniformed member of
> >>the public going to look at it? I think they would interpret it as "any
> >>exposure, no matter how small, results in a significant additional
> >>risk". How about we show this to a number of people and ask them to
> >>interpret it?

I interpret it as misrepresenting the data to the self-interest of the NRC to
foster public fear that any amount of radiation is a great hazard. 

> Good idea. Here is a rough representation of the graph. What does it show?

Here's a rough revision of the graph with typical data as it applies from the
Canadian fluoroscopy study and other studies, or without the low dose
reduction in the radium dial painters (a small study population and low normal 
bone cancer incidence, see, eg, Otto Raabe, HPJ Suppl 1, Vol 44, 1983 - even
though large populations are exposed to wide variations in natural radium
exposure and would readily show a dose-response of the LNT were true.) 

>      |                       /  o
>      |                    /    o
>      |                 /      o
>      |              /        o
>      |           /          o
>      |        /            o
> risk |    /         o o
>      |o/  o o o 
>      |  o
>      |______________
>     0   dose
> 
> The slope is more pronounced here due to the limits of monospaced type, but
> the labels are accurate. This is all the page shows. What should the layman
> (the intended audience) infer from this graph?
> 
> -Gary

I'd infer from this graph that NRC is misrepresenting the data, in the
language Robley Evans used about BEIR 1972 in his 1974 HPJ article, Radium in
Man, and all who bother to consider the data (either contrary to the LNT, or
that data that is claimed to support the LNT but can only do so by
misrepresentation. 

Thanks, Gary.

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