Using science to update regulatory approach to radiation protection

Excessive regulation of extremely low radiation doses increases the public fears of nuclear technology, increases the costs borne by society, and can deprive society of the full benefit of that technology.” – Edward Maher, Sc.D., Harvard University Note: Borrowed from lowdoserad.org That is a truth that Atomic Insights has recognized for many years, but the…

Challenging EPA’s legal authority set strict limits on low dose radiation

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been seeking input on regulations that should be repealed, replaced or modified. The comment window opened on April 13 and closed on May 15. In response to the request, members of Scientists for Accurate Radiation Information (SARI) prepared a document containing scientifically supported arguments for eliminating regulations that contain…

ALARA causes and reinforces excessive fear of low dose radiation

The current practice for controlling ionizing radiation exposures is ALARA – (As Low As Reasonably Achievable). This practice is based on acceptance of the 1950s vintage assertion that all exposure to radiation, down to a single low energy gamma ray, carries a greater than zero probability of causing a genetic mutation that might result in…

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Rosalyn Yalow, nuclear medicine pioneer and fierce critic of “no safe dose” myth

For International Women’s Day, we’d like to honor a pioneering medical physicist who developed one of the most important medical tools still in use today – radioimmunoassay. Dr. Rosalyn Yalow was a fearless pioneer in the medical physics profession. In 1977, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her contributions in developing…

Dear Scott Pruitt – Please establish modern scientific basis for radiation regulations

Scientists for Accurate Radiation Information (SARI) recently delivered a petition to Scott Pruitt, the new Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The letter, signed by 34 members or associate members of SARI, requests that Mr. Pruitt direct his Agency to revise the basis of risk-based radiation regulations. SARI members believe that regulations should be…

Value of low dose radiation research ignored by DOE Office of Science managers

The first installment of this series, Inconvenient Low Dose Radiation Science Axed Under Obama Administration, described actions taken by Department of Energy (DOE) managers to ensure that the Low Dose Radiation Research Program that they had eliminated from their budget remained dead. They planned to prevent information about the program’s successes and future opportunities from…

DOE execs killed respected science program studying radiation health effects. Fired PM who tried to protect science

Senior Department of Energy executives, several of whom were “Acting” Obama Administration appointees in roles that normally require Senate advice and consent, made decisions that eliminated unique research into the biological effects of low dose radiation in the United States. Early research results from the program are arguably sufficient to support decisions with globally important…

Nuclear highlights of Rick Perry’s confirmation hearing plus a suggested action

The Senate Energy and Environment committee, chaired by Senator Lisa Murkowski, held a confirmation hearing yesterday for former Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Trump Administration nominee for Secretary of Energy. Sam Britton, the nuclear waste specialist from the Bipartisan Policy Center, produced a valuable resource by watching the full hearing and producing a series of…

Journal of Nuclear Medicine article: Fear of medical radiation is based on bad science

Radiology and nuclear medicine subject matter experts have published an article in the January 2017 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine that provides numerous reasons why people should never worry about properly controlled radiation doses used in medical imaging. The doses used are many times lower than the lowest dose at which harm might…

Debating validity and effects of assumption that all radiation adds risk

Medical Physics recently hosted a point/counterpoint debate about the effects of assuming that all radiation carries a risk that justifies application of the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle. Here is an overview of the debate proposition. The ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle is based upon the assumption that low doses of…