RSNA 2011: Linear non-threshold hypothesis is inappropriate

"In this four-minute video interview conducted at the RSNA conference, Dr Cynthia H. McCollough, a professor or radiologic physics at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, explains why the use of the linear non-threshold (LNT) hypothesis is an inappropriate tool to estimate risk from radiation exposure in diagnostic imaging or therapeutic radiation procedures. In the absence of data about risk from low-dose exposure, the LNT presumes that the relative risk remains constant even at very low levels."[emphasis added]

comment:

This professor is just talking plain old horsesense on the subject of radiation.  My impression on the subject is that the fear of radiation is kept up to the level of hysteria in this culture.  That hysteria is costing this nation big time.  It could be the single most important factor in why we are losing our democracy.

How?  If we had a reasonable attitude toward radiation, we could develop complete energy independence.  There should be no need to import oil from unstable and unfriendly regimes.  This unwise practice subjects this nation to security risks that would not exist otherwise.  Furthermore, these security risks have to be managed at great cost, and besides, this government tends to manage these risks in such a way as to be a hazard to our freedoms.  For example, the NSA bugging wouldn't be necessary if we weren't sending so much oil money to unstable and unfriendly regimes.  We wouldn't be getting into wars, like in Iraq, in order to keep oil supply lines open, either.

Also, this attitude is so unreasonable and foolish that we are shooting ourselves in the foot with respect to Rare Earths.  Thorium is treated as if it were dangerous, but it isn't.  Because it is treated as a dangerous substance, Rare Earths cannot be easily mined.  As a consequence, China has monopoly on Rare Earths which they would NOT have otherwise.  This gives them enormous leverage in the value chain in the production of high tech goods, and this just does not need to be so.  It costs us jobs and it costs us prosperity in a time in which we could desperately use both.

If you are going to lose your prosperity and security over something, it ought to be for a reason much better than this.  The absurdity of our policies with respect to radiation are just plain silly.