Gam Address & Healthy survivor effect -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Martin Haas was kind enough to point out that I screwed up the on-line
gamma catalog address.  The last "/" should have been an "."  To be
specific, the correct address is

http://isotopes.lbl.gov/isotopes/toipdf/glist.pdf

Which I just checked (but then, I checked it the first time too). URLs are a
pain.You do need acrobat reader  to access the info.

WRT the healthy survivor effect:  because we would all prefer that
exposures to radiation be harmless,  there is a tendency to automatically
dismiss studies/evidence that suggest the existence of detrimental
effects, and automatically accept any evidence that indicates the
opposite.  i.e. we believe what we want to believe.

Since its instructive to defend a position that runs against one's natural
instinct, let me offer two reasons  why the atomic bomb survivors might
show a healthy survivor effect. 

1. The atomic bomb survivors have better medical care than the rest of
the Japanese population. Cancers are more likely to be detected early,
this means that mortality will be lower.

2. If someone receives a radiation exposure and believes that this
significantly increases their risk of cancer, they will likely alter their
lifestyle e.g., diet, smoking, drinking etc.

Thoughts?

Paul Frame