Presentation
Low-dose Radiation: A Problem or a Solution?
Speaker
Mohan Doss, PhD, MCCPM
LNT Model
- Linear no-threshold
- First accepted by the National Academy of Sciences in 1956
- From a letter from a committee member at the time, viewed as “stretching a point,” and accepted because it would increase the amount of money that would go to genetics research
- LNT Model has “questionable origin”
Low-dose Radiation (LDR)
- Adaptive response following low-dose radiation exposure
- Increased antioxidants, DNA repair enzymes, apoptosis
- This is known as adaptive protection
- Low dose radiation data shows overall reduction in cancer risk in mice due to improved DNA repair
Cancer Risk
- Rises due to transplants and HIV/AIDS, possibly due to reduced immune system, not genetic mutation
- Immune system response lowers with age, could this be what is causing the increase in cancer risk?
- Populations that recieve LDR have lower cancer death rates than the control, and much lower than would be expected by LNT
- Date isn’t great, most effects are only on the order of one standard deviation.