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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I’m working on a story about the demise of the Department of Energy’s Low Dose Radiation Research Program. It’s a lengthy, complicated saga that isn’t yet ready to be published as a complete piece. There is a part of the story worth telling now because it may be valuable to others. It illustrates the way…
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…
While learning more about the effect that John Gofman and Arthur Tamplin had on radiation protection regulations, I found an important story to share. Excessive fear of low dose radiation among University of California Berkeley (UCB) researchers that were early pioneers in radiation and radioactive isotopes was directly influenced by a single dead rat. The…
During a recent conversation with a successful career employee of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the topic of radiation protection limits came up. He reminded me that the NRC’s role in radiation protection is limited to enforcing the standards that are set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In light of President-elect Trump’s statements about…
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…
Biological Theory has published the equivalent of a “bunker buster” salvo in a decades-long war of words between scientists. On one side are people who believe that there is no safe dose of radiation. They assert that radiation protection regulations should continue using a linear, no threshold model. The other side includes those who say…