What's New Robert L. Park 1 5 April 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 15 Apr 2011   Washington, DC

1. NUCLEAR RADIATION: BEYOND THE LINEAR-NO-THRESHOLD MODEL.
On Tuesday Japan raised the severity rating of the Fukushima nuclear cris=
is=20
to 7, putting it on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.  Although Jap=
an=20
is releasing few details, you can safely conclude that radiation is reall=
y=20
bad; beyond that you're on your own.  The most up-to-date and comprehensi=
ve=20
risk estimates for cancer and other health effects from exposure to low-
level ionizing radiation are in the 2006 Biologic Effect of Ionizing=20
Radiation Report of the National Academies (BEIR VII).  The only data bas=
e=20
we have is from victims of massive exposures at Hiroshima and Chernobyl.=20
The report relies on the linear-no-threshold model to estimate the risk=20
from multiple exposures at much lower levels, such as airliner crews.  Th=
is=20
is not only wrong, they know it's wrong.  A DNA repair process is=20
constantly at work in human cells repairing DNA damage from sources of=20
ionizing radiation, including UV light and cosmic radiation.  There is no=
t=20
much choice but to ignore the repair process and assume a linear model=20
which greatly overstates the risk from multiple exposures.  A panel of=20
experts concluded that that, "the preponderance of evidence indicates tha=
t=20
there will be some risk even at low doses."

2. MICROWAVE RADIATION: DO CELL PHONES CAUSE BRAIN CANCER?
I've been living in the past, grousing about the failure of "the media" t=
o=20
expose the public to the facts about cell phone radiation and cancer.   =20
That used to mean a trusted figure like Walter Cronkite on the evening=20
news, a segment on 60 Minutes or Sunday Morning, and an in depth feature =
in=20
the New York Times.  Television news is now kept busy keeping us informed=
=20
about celebrities checking into rehab; print news now means an army of=20
bloggers.  The best coverage of the cell phone thing so far was an articl=
e=20
this week in the New York Times Magazine by Siddhartha Mukherjee, "Do Cel=
l=20
Phones Cause Brain Cancer?"  In the age of twittering I don't know if=20
anyone still reads 17 page articles, but Mukherjee remains calm through i=
t=20
all and in the end concludes the evidence is far from convincing.  That's=
=20
the way it is with epidemiology, always a little wishy-washy.  It's like=20
deciding the winner of the Super Bowl by a show of hands from the crowd.

3. GAS PROBLEM? REPUBLICANS FAIL TO BLOCK EPA AUTHORITY. =20
The authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate=20
greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act would have been stripped=
=20
by legislation that easily passed the Republican-controlled House a week=20
ago.  The following day, however, the measure was defeated in the Senate.=
  =20
But no one is celebrating yet.  Republicans will now try to cut EPA fundi=
ng=20
to prevent money from being spent on the measure.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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