Radiographers

[Lorna Bullerwell <ljb1@cornell.edu>]

The posting regarding a radiographer reminded me of something I was going
to post this past summer.  Cornell recently put a huge pipeline into Cayuga
Lake for their lake source cooling project.  I happened to meet the
radiographer who checked the welds on the pipes and had a very interesting
conversation with him.  He is 24 and has been doing radiography for about
two-1/2 years.  He told me that he receives approximately 15-100 mrem per
day, depending on the job, and that he works almost every day of the year,
including weekends.  He is basically on the road all the time.  During the
conversation, I asked him if he were concerned about possibly getting
cancer, or something along those lines.  (This was several months ago, so
the conversation is kind of fuzzy)  Anyway, I remember being really
surprised by his response.  It turns out that approximately six months
after he started doing radiography, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Because of his job, his doctor will not prescribe the normal radiation
therapy for it.  The radiographer firmly believes that these small, but
relatively continuous doses, are curing him of his cancer.  I believe he
said that his cancer has not spread at all since it was first diagnosed,
although he has had no medical treatment for it.  I just thought it was
kind of interesting.  It also led me to wonder if anyone had ever done a
study on radiographers.  I appears to me that there are probably lots of
records of these individuals and their doses.  Given the doses they are
receiving, maybe they would be a good data set to look for cancer at low
dose rates.  I just wondered what you all might think.  If nothing else,
the guy seems to lead a very interesting life.


Lorna
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Any statement above is 100% my responsibility.  
Don't blame Cornell!
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Lorna Bullerwell			Phone:  (607) 255-8816
Radiological Safety Specialist		Fax:  (607) 255-8267
Cornell University			mailto:ljb1@cornell.edu
Department of Environmental Health and Safety
Laboratory and Radiation Safety Section
125 Humphreys Service Building,  Ithaca, NY  14853
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