Re: Recent LNT correspondence by Cohen and Scherer

[David Scherer <scherer@uiuc.edu>]

>    An added complication is that all these theory assume that all human 
>    cancers have an equal probability of being producer by radiation. This 
>    has been show to be false. See NCRP Report No. 121 (Principles and 
>    Application of Collective Dose in Radiation Protection) and ACRP-18 
>    (Biological Effects of Low Doses of Radiation at Low Dose Rates).

This is an insightful and important point.  A complete model will address
specific cancer sites, demographic, and genetic factors (among others).
But if the model is intended to protect the public, the overall (or
effective?) risk is the important one.  You could view this as analogous to
the effective half life for internal isotopes, in distinction to the
physical and biological half lives.

Regards,
Dave Scherer