From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Robert Cihak, MD – https://www.americaoutloud.com/radiation-the-poison-is-in-the-dose-robert-cihak-md/
A while back I had a show where I discussed radiation experiments conducted by the federal government without the consent of the research subjects. The experiments were testing for beneficial versus toxic doses of radiation. Of course, such research would provide useful information but it was the lack of consent that was shocking.
No one escapes radiation. It is everywhere—in your food, in your television, in an airplane on a coast to coast trip. Some people say no amount of radiation is safe. Others believe the potential benefits of radiation are, as one author put it, “phenomenal.” Data show that at certain doses of radiation, all-cause mortality, including cancer is reduced.
Follow up on survivors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki also showed surprising results: the survivors of low dose radiation lived longer than residents who were not exposed at all. There are similar findings in around the globe where researchers compared cancer rates of residents of areas of high and low background radiation. A large study done by the Department of Energy and Johns Hopkins University examined the medical histories of thousands of nuclear workers and similarly situated non-nuclear workers. They found that all-cause mortality was higher for the non-nuclear workers.
A scientific discipline called ‘hormesis’ studies dose-response relationships of environmental agents or stressors where the agent may produce harmful effects at high doses and stimulatory or beneficial effects at low doses. Common examples of hormesis dose-response include oxygen, carbon monoxide, mercury, lead, tin, fluorine, arsenic, and selenium. As the pharmacologists say, “the poison is in the dose.”
These studies showing the dose-response curve’s hermetic zone have been largely ignored. Could it be that stoking fears about exposure to low-level radiation is merely another excuse for more government regulation and control? It’s fairly easy to engender those fears since the average Joe doesn’t know much about the types of radiation beyond the sun’s ultraviolent radiation that can give a mean sunburn, leathery skin, or promote the development of melanomas.
As with so many public health issues, political concerns may take precedence over facts. Politicians can vilify nuclear reactors to get votes from environmentalists and NIMBYs. Radiation exposure is a ready source of fear to keep us in line. But like they say in the X-files: “The truth is out there.”
My guest today has been around radiation all his adult life and he doesn’t glow in the dark. He will help us sort through the facts and fiction.
Suggested reading: Underexposed: What If Radiation Is Actually Good for You by Ed Hiserodt
