Energy Probe

The massive Interphone cellphone study released earlier this year dismissed its own work because it failed to prove what researchers were looking for, namely, evidence of adverse effects of cellphones. Also rejected was evidence in their research that showed cellphones may reduce brain-tumour risk. The Interphone researchers may well have missed the real story in their work because they didn’t want to see it.

A revolutionary field called hormesis shows that dangerous substances can be beneficial at low levels.

A study on the possible health risks related to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from cell phone technology.

The Interphone Study Group today published their results in the International Journal of Epidemiology (direct media link). The paper presents the results of analyses of brain tumour (glioma and meningioma) risk in relation to mobile phone use in all Interphone study centres combined. This interview-based case-control study, which included 2708 glioma and 2409 meningioma cases and matched controls was conducted in 13 countries using a common protocol. Analyses of brain tumours in relation to mobile phone use have been reported from a number of cohort and casecontrol studies, including several of the national components of Interphone. No studies, however,have included as many exposed cases, particularly long-term and heavy users of mobile phones, as this study.

A pinch of methylmercury is just ducky for mallard reproduction, according to a new federal study. The findings are counterintuitive, since methylmercury is ordinarily a potent neurotoxic pollutant. Over a two-month feeding trial, treated adults produced more offspring — and young that at least initially grew faster — than did mallards dining mercuryfree.

Clearly, ancient Egyptians didn't get the memo about lead poisoning. Their eye makeup was full of the stuff. Although today we know that lead can cause brain damage and miscarriages, the Egyptians believed that lead-based cosmetics protected against eye diseases. Now, new research suggests that they may have been on to something.

Aging is characterized by stochastic accumulation of molecular damage, progressive failure of maintenance and repair, and consequent onset of age-related diseases. Applying hormesis in aging research and therapy is based on the principle of stimulation of maintenance and repair pathways by repeated exposure to mild stress.

Metabolic and energetic efficiency, and hence fitness of organisms to survive, should be maximal in their habitats. This tenet of evolutionary biology invalidates the linear-nothreshold (LNT) model for the risk consequences of environmental agents. Hormesis in response to selection for maximum metabolic and energetic efficiency, or minimum metabolic imbalance, to adapt to a stressed world dominated by oxidative stress should therefore be universal. Radiation hormetic zones extending substantially beyond common background levels, can be explained by metabolic interactions among multiple abiotic stresses. Demographic and experimental data are mainly in accord with this expectation. Therefore, non-linearity becomes the primary model for assessing risks from low-dose ionizing radiation. This is the evolutionary imperative upon which risk assessment for radiation should be based.

The International Commission for Radiological Protection (ICRP) adopted the linear nonthreshold model of radiation risk to simplify the administration of radiation protection. (ICRP 1977) At that time there were already several good epidemiological studies that contradicted the assumption. It had been known since 1973 (Frigerio, et. al.) that the 7 western U.S. states with the highest background radiation have cancer death rates 15% lower than the average for the 48 contiguous states (P<10-5). 

Information from the unpublished 1991 Final Report of the Nuclear Shipyard Worker Study (NSWS). The NSWS is the world’s largest and most thorough study of health effects of low-dose- rate ionising radiation to nuclear workers.

Discussion of the effects of glucocorticoids on human learning and memory using the recent model of hormesis proposed by Calabrese and collaborators.

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 rem1 in
one year or a lifetime dose of 10 rem above that received from natural sources. Doses from
natural background radiation in the United States average about 0.3 rem per year. A dose of 5
rem will be accumulated in the first 17 years of life and about 25 rem in a lifetime of 80 years.

The prevailing view of regulatory agencies and advisory groups is that all radiation is bad for health, and exposure to any form of it should be minimized. While high-dose radiation, regardless of source or intention, is harmful to health, evidence is presented that chronic doses up to 100 times those of normal ambient (including medical) exposures are beneficial, mainly due to lower cancer rates. Further evidence is presented that single, acute doses of up to 50 rad are beneficial, including in treatment of cancer and gangrene. Data are cited to show that below-ambient radiation levels are unhealthful, and that some radiation may be essential for many life-forms.

The threshold dose-response model is widely viewed as the most dominant model in toxicology. The present study was designed to test the validity of the threshold model by assessing the responses of doses below the toxicological NOAEL (no observed adverse effect level) in relationship to the control response.

The 100-year study of British radiologists is perhaps the most important article about the health effects of radiation on humans ever published. The continuity of follow-up in the study is the longest for any study of exposure to chronic radiation.

People in some areas of Ramsar, a city in northern Iran, receive an annual radiation absorbed dose from background radiation that is up to 260 mSv y_1, substantially higher than the 20 mSv y_1 that is permitted for radiation workers. Inhabitants of Ramsar have lived for many generations in these high background areas. Cytogenetic studies show no significant differences between people in the high background compared to people in normal background areas.

A comprehensive effort was undertaken to identify articles demonstrating chemical hormesis. Nearly 4000 potentially relevant articles were retrieved from preliminary computer database searches by using various key word descriptors and extensive cross-referencing. A priori evaluation criteria were established including study design features (e.g., number of doses, dose range), statistical analysis, and reproducibility of results. Evidence of chemical hormesis was judged to have occurred in approximately 350 of the 4000 studies evaluated.

Discussions of possible stimulatory effects of low levels of ionizing radiation have recently become entangled with the separate but related question of whether a threshold dose level exists on the radiotoxicologic dose-response curve. This review summarizes some of the relevant historical and scientific data bearing on the question of radiation hormesis.