Ed, I believe that this will help you get an answer :
http://www.hps.org/documents/radiationrisk.pdf
RADIATION RISK IN PERSPECTIVE
POSITION STATEMENT OF THE HEALTH PHYSICS SOCIETY*
Adopted: January 1996
Reaffirmed: March 2001
"In accordance with current knowledge of radiation health risks, the Health Physics Society
recommends against quantitative estimation of health risks below an individual dose of 5 rem in
one year or a lifetime dose of 10 rem in addition to background radiation. Risk estimation in this
dose range should be strictly qualitative accentuating a range of hypothetical health outcomes
with an emphasis on the likely possibility of zero adverse health effects. The current philosophy of
radiation protection is based on the assumption that any radiation dose, no matter how small,
may result in human health effects, such as cancer and hereditary genetic damage. There is
substantial and convincing scientific evidence for health risks at high dose. Below 10 rem
(which includes occupational and environmental exposures), risks of health effects are either too
small to be observed or are non-existent."
"In accordance with current knowledge of radiation health risks, the Health Physics Society recommends against quantitative estimation of health risks below an individual dose of 5 rem in one year or a lifetime dose of 10 rem in addition to background radiation.
Risk estimation in this dose range should be strictly qualitative accentuating a range of hypothetical health outcomes with an emphasis on the likely possibility of zero adverse health effects.
The current philosophy of radiation protection is based on the assumption that any radiation dose, no matter how small, may result in human health effects, such as cancer and hereditary genetic damage. There is substantial and convincing scientific evidence for health risks at high dose. Below 10 rem (which includes occupational and environmental exposures), risks of health effects are either too small to be observed or are non-existent."
"Collective dose (the sum of individual doses in an exposed population expressed as
person-rem) remains a useful index for quantifying dose in large populations and in comparing
the magnitude of exposures from different radiation sources. However, for a population in which
all individuals receive lifetime doses of less than 10 rem above background, collective dose is a
highly speculative and uncertain measure of risk and should not be quantified for the purposes of
estimating population health risks."
<end quote>
Jaro
-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Oleen [mailto:eoleen@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday June 06, 2002 4:01 PM
To: cdn-nucl-l@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA
Subject: [cdn-nucl-l] LNT model
Is there someone who can point me to a site which
will explain exactly what the "LNT" model is and
what it predicts? I gather that it assumes that
the effects of radiation at low doses can be
extrapolated in a LINEAR fashion from the effects
of a high level of radiation.
This does not seem kosher to me, based upon the
effects of pharmaceuticals, etc...
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