RE: Risk vs B+W

["Joe Alvarez" <jalvarez@auxier.com>]

Smoking 1.5 cigarettes may well be exactly equivalent to 10 mrem to the 
bone marrow.  Both only count when they are part of a higher dose.  The 1.5 
cigarettes only count if you smoke two packs a day for many years.  This is 
another example of ain't-math-grand.  A person who smokes for several years 
then quits will have a decreasing chance of lung cancer.  After 10 years of 
non-smoking the cancer risk is indistinguishable from background.  A person 
who smokes only 1.5 cigarettes in a life time has no added cancer risk. 
 Likewise with driving on highways.  Try using this statistic to buy 
automobile insurance if you are a male under 25 years of age.  Eric Hall 
should know better.  Then, again, refer back to the first two sentences.

Joe Alvarez, Ph.D., CHP
Auxier & Associates, Inc.
9821 Cogdill Rd, Suite 1
Knoxville, TN 37932
Phone (423)675-3669
FAX: (423)675-3677
Email: jalvarez@auxier.com

-----Original Message-----
From:	Agnes Barlow [SMTP:agnes.barlow@yale.edu]
Sent:	Thursday, August 19, 1999 12:37 PM
To:	Multiple recipients of list
Subject:	Re: Risk vs B+W

Eric Hall's book [Radiobiology for the Radiologist] has a risk table in
which he states that 10 mRem to the bone marrow [chance of death from
leukemia 2 x E-7] is equivalent to smoking 1.5 cigarettes [or driving
3.6 miles on the highway.]

Aggie
standard disclaimer
Agnes.Barlow@Yale.edu

Craig A. Little wrote:
 I like the idea of somehow relating risk from rad exposure to risk from
cigarette exposure.
> "risk" from smoking one cigarette and the same from one mrem.
> that I've seen something like this somewhere before, but can't remember 
where.
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