Commentary on Using LNT for Radiation Protection and Risk Assessment

Abstract

An article by Jerome Puskin attempts to justify the continued use of the linear no-threshold (LNT) assumption in radiation protection and risk assessment. In view of the substantial and increasing amount of data that contradicts this assumption; it is difficult to understand the reason for endorsing this unscientific behavior, which severely constrains nuclear energy projects and the use of CT scans in medicine. Many Japanese studies over the past 25 years have shown that low doses and low dose rates of radiation improve health in living organisms including humans. Recent studies on fruit flies have demonstrated that the original basis for the LNT notion is invalid. The Puskin article omits any mention of important reports from UNSCEAR, the NCRP and the French Academies of Science and Medicine, while citing an assessment of the Canadian breast cancer study that manipulated the data to obscure evidence of reduced breast cancer mortality following a low total dose. This commentary provides dose limits that are based on real human data, for both single and chronic radiation exposures.