Table Of ContentRadiation Hormesis and the Linear-No-Threshold Assumption
Charles L. Sanders
Radiation Hormesis and
the Linear-No-Threshold
Assumption
Charles L. Sanders, Ph.D.
Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST)
Department of Nuclear and Quantum
Engineering
335 Gwahak-ro (373-1 Guseong-dong)
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305–701
Republic of Korea
ISBN: 978-3-642-03719-1 e-ISBN: 978-3-642-03720-7
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-03720-7
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Preface
Outrageous, unsubstantiated statements are made concerning the hazards of ionizing radiation,
in spite of a vast published, peer-reviewed literature on molecular, cellular, animal, and
epidemiological studies indicating not harm but benefi t from low-dose ionizing radiation.
Claims that as many as a million children across Europe and Asia may have died in the
womb as a result of radioactive fallout from Chernobyl or claims that the health impacts of
low levels of internal radiation are underestimated by between 100 and 1,000 times are
common among antinuclear arguments. Such statements are fueled by proponents of the
linear nonthreshold (LNT) assumption, which assumes that any dose of radiation, no mat-
ter how insignifi cant, results in increased mortality from cancer and other diseases.
The most dishonest, manipulative research I have ever seen in my nearly 50 years of
participation in radiobiological research has been published by radiation epidemiologists
who are proponents of the LNT assumption. Their hundreds of publications and involve-
ment in national and international radiation protection agencies have put them in a position
of power and control within the research establishment. They have continued the decep-
tion in spite of overwhelming published, scientifi c data that clearly demonstrates how
wrong the LNT assumption is. You might conclude that, if admirers of the LNT assump-
tion were right about the risk from radiation, then the human race would not have survived
natural background radiation, which in some places of the world is >100 mSv/year (>40
times the global average). The result of this deception is not insignifi cant: literally millions
of lives are less healthy because they have been convinced that living in radiation defi cient
environments is healthy; lives are lost in not implementing effective low-dose radiation
therapy to treat cancer; lives are lost out of fear of diagnostic radiation that saves lives;
painful lives of people suffering from chronic infl ammatory diseases are not improved by
low-dose radiation therapy, which is given without the cost and side-effects of drugs and
pain killers. Then there are the annual billions of dollars spent needlessly to protect us
from radiation that we need for optimal health. Radiophobia limits the political will of
people and governments to promote clean and safe nuclear power in place of traditional
highly polluting fossil fuel power sources. Radiophobia prevents the logical and safe burial
of nuclear wastes. Radiophobia causes serious psychological effects leading to loss of life
(>100,000 abortions and >1,000 suicides attributed to Chernobyl fallout).
My research career was initially funded by AEC, starting at the Radiobiology Laboratory
at Texas A & M under the leadership of Drs. Sidney Brown and George Krise from 1961
v
vi Preface
to 1963. All graduate students in the lab participated in a large reproduction study with rats
who received continuous gamma irradiation from a 60Co source of ~20, 50, 100, or 200
mSv/day. I can remember their discussions about why rats receiving 20 mSv/day (~7 Sv per
year) lived longer and had larger litter sizes and more robust reproduction than unexposed
controls. In addition, they observed that tumor incidences in rats receiving 20 mSv per day
were less than those in controls [1]. I spent about 25 years (1968–1993) working on inhala-
tion toxicology of transuranics in the Biology department at PNL in Richland, WA. In the
mid-1980s I became aware of the work of Dr. Luckey on radiation hormesis. My last proj-
ect for DOE was concerned with establishing a dose–response relationship for inhaled
high-fi red 239PuO in a study with 3,000 rats, including about 1,000 controls. An earlier,
2
almost identical study published in 1976 examined the same issues in a smaller group of
rats [2]. The new study included incorporation of tracer levels of 169Yb into plutonium
oxide particles to facilitate accurate estimates of deep lung deposition of 239Pu. 169Yb deliv-
ered a lung dose of only 1–2 mSv from 175 keV g-rays with the vast majority of the lung
dose being delivered by α-particles from 239Pu. The result was a marked higher lung dose
for fi rst appearance of lung cancer, from 50 mGy for rats without 169Yb to 1,500 mGy for
rats with 169Yb [2–4]. Thus, the start and end of my government funded research programs
were punctuated by unexpected observations that strongly promoted the concept of radia-
tion hormesis, which is the only believable explanation for these results.
This book will educate the interested general public and research and teaching profes-
sionals in the areas of radiobiology, health physics, medical physics, nuclear engineering,
energy research, environmental science, medical and dental professions, and industry that
low-dose radiation is not only safe but is healthy and benefi cial.
Daejeon, Korea Charles L. Sanders
References
1. Brown SO, Krise GM, Pace HB (1963) Continuous low-dose radiation effects on successive
litters of the albino rat. Radiat Res 19:270–276
2. Sanders CL, Dagle GE, Cannon WC et al (1976) Inhalation carcinogenesis of high-fi red
239PuO2 in rats. Radiat Res 68:340–360
3. Sanders CL, Scott BR (2008) Smoking and hormesis as confounding factors in radiation pul-
monary carcinogenesis. Dose Response 6:53–79
4. Sanders C, Lundgren D (1995) Pulmonary carcinogenesis in the F344 and Wistar rat follow-
ing inhalation of 239PuO2. Radiat Res 144:206–214
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the many people who made this book possible. Drs. Sidney Brown
(deceased) and George Krise from the Radiobiology Laboratory, Texas A & M University,
were wonderful professors who provided me with my fi rst exposure to ionizing radiation
as a research topic. Professors Gyuseong Cho, He Cheon No, Poong Hyun Seong, and
Soon Heung Chang in the Department of Nuclear & Quantum Engineering at the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have been a great encouragement.
Dr. Bobby Scott has unknowingly “mentored” me and continually kept me appraised of the
latest developments. This book is built upon the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas Luckey,
whose 1980 book on radiation hormesis left a profound impression. The subsequent work
of Dr. Edward Calabrese continued and expanded the hormetic possibilities to toxic chem-
icals. Two KAIST graduate students, Sukwhun Sohn and Hosang Jeon, drew most of the
illustrations. Five years of student classes listened to my passion and ramblings about the
benefi ts of ionizing radiation. The Korean Nuclear Society, Korean Radiation Protection
Society, KAIST and Seoul National University provided me the opportunity to freely dis-
seminate my views throughout South Korea. The author acknowledges that the Lord made
ionizing radiation to benefi t his creation. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the
eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13b).
vii
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 The LNT Assumption ..................................................................................... 3
1.2 Radiation Hormesis and Radioadaptive Response ......................................... 6
References ................................................................................................................ 12
2 Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms ................................................................... 17
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 17
2.2 The Radioadaptive Response .......................................................................... 19
2.3 Chromosome Aberrations ............................................................................... 22
2.4 Neoplastic Transformation .............................................................................. 24
2.5 Apoptosis ........................................................................................................ 26
2.6 Immune Enhancement .................................................................................... 28
References ................................................................................................................ 30
3 Natural Environmental Radiation ........................................................................ 37
References ................................................................................................................ 41
4 Accidents, Tests, and Incidents ............................................................................. 43
4.1 Radium Dial Painters ...................................................................................... 43
4.2 Nuclear Weapons Tests ................................................................................... 44
4.3 Mayak and Techa River Residents .................................................................. 45
4.4 Eastern Urals Nuclear Waste Tank Explosion ................................................ 45
4.5 Japanese A-Bomb Survivors ........................................................................... 46
4.6 Taiwan Contaminated Buildings ..................................................................... 47
4.7 Chernobyl ........................................................................................................ 47
References ................................................................................................................ 50
5 Medical Exposures and Workers .......................................................................... 53
5.1 Radiotherapy for Noncancer Conditions ........................................................ 53
5.2 Diagnostic Radiation Exposures ..................................................................... 54
5.3 Prenatal Exposures .......................................................................................... 55
5.4 Radioiodine Therapy ....................................................................................... 55
ix
x Contents
5.5 Second Tumors in Radiotherapy Patients Treated for a Primary Tumor ........ 56
5.6 Medical Workers ............................................................................................. 57
References ................................................................................................................ 60
6 Nuclear Workers .................................................................................................... 63
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 69
References ................................................................................................................ 82
7 Biased Epidemiological Studies ............................................................................ 85
7.1 Epidemiology Studies ..................................................................................... 85
7.2 Bias, Prejudice, and Statistical Inaccuracy ..................................................... 87
7.3 Pooled Studies ................................................................................................. 89
References ................................................................................................................ 90
8 Evidence Negating the Healthy Worker Effect ................................................... 93
References ................................................................................................................ 100
9 Lung Cancer ........................................................................................................... 105
9.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 105
9.2 Tobacco ........................................................................................................... 105
9.3 External Low LET Radiation .......................................................................... 106
9.4 Radon General ................................................................................................ 109
9.5 Environmental and Ecologic Studies of Radon .............................................. 109
9.6 Case-Control Studies of Radon ....................................................................... 112
9.7 Underground Uranium Miners ........................................................................ 115
9.8 Internal High LET Radiation .......................................................................... 115
9.9 Mechanism ...................................................................................................... 118
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 118
References ................................................................................................................ 126
10 Breast Cancer ......................................................................................................... 135
Appendix ................................................................................................................. 139
References ................................................................................................................ 145
11 Leukemia ................................................................................................................ 149
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 153
References ................................................................................................................ 161
12 Liver, CNS, and Thyroid Cancers ........................................................................ 165
12.1 Liver Cancer ................................................................................................... 165
12.2 Central Nervous System Cancer ..................................................................... 166
12.3 Thyroid Cancer ............................................................................................... 167
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 169
References ................................................................................................................ 182
Contents xi
13 Lifespan, Birth Defects, and Experimental Cancer ............................................ 185
13.1 Lifespan .......................................................................................................... 185
13.2 Birth Defects ................................................................................................... 187
13.3 Experimental Cancer ....................................................................................... 188
References ................................................................................................................ 193
14 Animal and Human Cancer Therapeutic Studies ............................................... 197
References ................................................................................................................ 202
15 Conclusions, Summary, and Importance ............................................................. 205
References ................................................................................................................ 209
Index ............................................................................................................................. 215
