The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bases its risk assessments, regulatory limits, and nonregulatory guidelines for population exposures to low level ionizing radiation on the linear no-threshold (LNT) hypothesis, which assumes that the risk of cancer due to a low dose exposure is proportional to dose, with no threshold. The use of LNT for radiation protection purposes has been repeatedly endorsed by authoritative scientific advisory bodies, including the National Academy of Sciences' BEIR Committees, whose recommendations form a primary basis of EPA's risk assessment methodology. Although recent radiobiological findings indicate novel damage and repair processes at low doses, LNT is supported by data from both epidemiology and radiobiology. Given the current state of the science, the consensus positions of key scientific and governmental bodies, as well as the conservatism and calculational convenience of the LNT assumption, it is unlikely that EPA will modify this approach in the near future.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2790313 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.09-005.Puskin | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Professional improbity: How Hermann J. Muller's ethics affected his science.
J Occup Environ Hyg
January 2025
Finance Department, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
The present paper provides an assessment of how the scientific and national policy achievements/goals of Hermann J. Muller were impacted by his ethics and provides several documented episodes in which Muller acted unethically to promote his personal gain-at the expense of others-within the scientific community. Muller manipulated the scientific community in self-serving ways to suppress perspectives that challenged his own views on radiation-induced gene mutation, and hereditary and cancer risk assessment in ways that influenced his significant awards (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe unraveling of a Nobel Prize: How Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize: A front for eugenics.
J Occup Environ Hyg
January 2025
Finance Department, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
This paper asserts that the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology that Hermann J. Muller received in 1946 was a front to enhance the legitimacy, acceptance, and application of eugenics, a strategy to guide the direction and rate of human evolutionary change. Seven of the nine people nominating (1932-1946) Muller were proponents of eugenics with Muller being among the most visible of the scientific leaders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer risk associated with low-dose ionizing radiation: A systematic review of epidemiological and biological evidence.
Mutat Res Rev Mutat Res
December 2024
Department of Radiology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China. Electronic address:
Article Synopsis
- The current radiation protection standards for cancer risk, primarily based on the Life Span Study (LSS), lack sufficient supporting evidence for low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) effects.
- There is a growing need for substantial evidence and potential thresholds for cancer risk, especially with increased medical radiation use, prompting a review of epidemiological studies.
- Recent advances in understanding the biology of LDIR-induced cancer suggest that factors like DNA damage, chromosome changes, and stem cell behavior may challenge existing risk models, indicating new areas for future research.
Random Threshold Model: A Low-Dose Radiation-Induced Risk Assessment Approach Considering Individual Susceptibility to Cancer.
Dose Response
November 2024
Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
The linear no-threshold (LNT) model, which has been used for radiation protection purposes, was developed based on the assumption that exposure to even a small amount of radiation may cause cancer. However, although it is known in carcinogenesis that there is variation in radiation sensitivity among individuals, the LNT model does not adequately consider radiosensitive subgroups. In this paper, we represent susceptibility to contract cancer by radiation exposure by means of the threshold of a dose-response function, introduce an assumption that the thresholds are random to represent the variation of the radiosensitivity among individuals in a susceptible subgroup.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMuller letter reveals scientific scandal that discredits evidence used to support LNT.
Chem Biol Interact
October 2023
Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20007, USA. Electronic address:
A newly discovered letter written by Hermann J. Muller in August 1948, reveals that he claimed to have evidence that multiple papers by Frederick Hanson and Florence Heys, including those that supported the linear non-threshold (LNT) dose response model for hereditary and cancer risk assessment, were fraudulent and thus untrustworthy. Muller failed to bring this issue, which he referred to as a major scientific scandal, to the attention of the scientific community, remaining silent for the remainder of his career.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!