A joint ANS/HPS (American Nuclear Society/Health Physics Society) meeting titled “Applicability of Radiation Protection Models to Low Dose Protection Standards” (hashtag #LowDose2018) will kick-off tonight. This much anticipated event has attracted 200 medical, radiation and nuclear energy experts to the booming metropolis of Pasco, WA. The site is appropriate, Pasco is one of the three…
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…
Computed tomography (CT) scans may be able do more than just take high resolution pictures inside human bodies. They might provide a useful treatment modality for certain neurodegenerative diseases. A recently published case report suggests that the adaptive response of a human immune system stimulated by a short series of standard, painless, simple to administer…
Many people have a strong fear of contracting “the big-C.” Though I share that concern based on my personal observation of too many loved ones who lost their battle with cancer, my personal nightmare disease is Alzheimer’s. It’s difficult as someone who thoroughly enjoys challenging mental activity to imagine the experience of slowly losing my…
The below is an improved version of a comment that I posted on the NRC blog titled Examining the Reasons for Ending the Cancer Risk Study. It was composed in response to accusations from a person named Gary Morgan who stated that I had attacked Greg Jaczko, misunderstood the biological nature of radiation, and promoted…
In a recent post titled Message is reaching the public – radiation risks have been greatly exaggerated I pointed to a New York Times piece by George Johnson describing how the evacuations ordered after the Fukushima reactor core melt events has already caused about 1600 early fatalities. He also explained how the radioactive material that…
by BILL SACKS and GREG MEYERSON As leftists who have studied the issue of nuclear energy for years, we want to reply to Robert Hunziker’s “Real Story” titled What’s Really Going on at Fukushima? (CounterPunch, June 15, 2015). It’s time for much of the left to reconsider a long-standing opposition to nuclear energy that often…
Even if you read nothing else today, please take the time to visit Environmental Toxicologist Hopes Hormesis Hypothesis May be Acknowledged by U.S. Regulatory Action. The story offers a renewing tale of the value of persistence in the pursuit of truth in the face of sometimes hostile opposition. It is a press release from the…
Gerry Thomas, Professor of Molecular Pathology of the Imperial College of London, has a subspecialty in the study of the health effects of radiation. She strongly believes that “public involvement and information is a key part of academic research,” and she is “actively involved in the public communication of research, particularly with respect to radiation…
The wheels are in motion for an official review of radiation protection regulations at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Doctors who are radiation health specialists are challenging the NRC’s use of the linear, no-threshold (LNT) dose response model as the basis for those regulations and the associated direction to maintain radiation doses As Low As…
In March 2015, Foreign Policy magazine published an article by Sarah Laskow titled The Mushroom Cloud and The X-Ray Machine. The article described the controversy over the radiation protection model known as the linear, no-threshold dose response. Ms. Laskow conducted some admirable literature research and talked with a number of well-known people. The ones that…
By Jerry Cuttler, DSc, PEng All organisms have very remarkable protection capabilities. While most people still think that living cells are structurally stable, scientists discovered in the 1980s that cells undergo a very high rate of naturally-occurring physical and chemical damage caused by the heat, oxygen and other chemicals in their bodies. Approximately 10,000 measurable…