From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Sat Aug 24 2002 - 11:12:43 MDT
This seems pretty counter-intuitive. Anyone care to advance some armchair
theories?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020823063221.htm
Reason
http://www.exratio.com
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Professor Outlines Benefits Of Low-Dose Radiation
MADISON -- A recent article published by University of Wisconsin-Madison
emeritus professor John R. Cameron suggests that we all need more radiation
for good health.
Cameron's article in the July issue of the British Journal of Radiology
outlines evidence that a moderate annual dose of radiation increases
longevity. He also outlined his findings last week at the Armed Forces
Radiobiological Research Institute in Bethesda, Md.
According to Cameron, British radiologists who entered the field between
1955 and 1979 had a 29 percent lower cancer death rate compared to all other
male English physicians of the same age. Radiologists also had a 36 percent
lower death rate from non-cancer causes and a 32 percent lower death rate
from all causes.
The chances of such a health improvement being accidental is less than one
in a thousand, Cameron says. The lower death rate from all causes results in
more than a three-year increase in longevity -- the same increase in
longevity that would result if all cancer were curable.
In addition, Cameron discussed similar news from a U.S. government sponsored
study that he participated in which shows that the 28,000 nuclear shipyard
workers with the greatest radiation doses, when compared to 32,500 shipyard
workers who had no on-the-job radiation, had significantly less cancer and a
24 percent lower death rate from all causes. That is, the nuclear workers
had an almost three-year increase in longevity, Cameron says. The chance of
that health improvement being accidental is less than one in 10 million
billion.
Cameron has been recognized for his contributions in the fields of radiation
and radiology by various national and international organizations. In 1960,
he was the inventor of the bone densitometer to detect and accurately
measure bone density, which indicates the presence or absence of
osteoporosis. There are now about 50,000 such instruments in the world.
To read the British Journal of Radiology article, visit:
http://bjr.birjournals.org/cgi/content/full/75/895/637
For another Cameron article on the subject, in Physics and Society (October
2001), visit: http://www.aps.org/units/fps/oct01/a5oct01.html
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