On the Debacle in Japan, and Why Homeopathy Should Be Using Radiation
Nobody's Right When Everybody's Wrong Buffalo Springfield I have learned a few things from the terrible nuclear crisis in Japan 1) If a government is actively trying to withhold information, it is hard to know what is going on.
2) After a once in a generation earthquake and tsunami, loss of electric power, ineffective government response, and six involved reactors, the most likely outcome is the death of a few hundred people.
This number, although tragic, is less than the number of people that die yearly in the mining, transport and burning of coal and oil.
3) Americans, the news media, and many so called "experts", are beyond ignorant when it comes to their understanding of the risks of radiation.
Blatantly false, paranoid and downright dangerous misleading information is disseminated by medical commentators, bloggers, and the surgeon general Yesterday I was screened for radiation exposure at the airport prior to boarding an airplane.
Last night I heard two talking heads arguing about whether the difference between a 20 and 50 mile evacuation zone meant the USA and Japanese governments were fighting.
This morning I saw how Ann Coulter said radiation is good for you.
It all wants to make me want to scream.
I will discuss these issues later, two of the three are completely bogus.
I have a degree in biophysics, am a Radiologist, and did research in radiation/tissue interaction for many years.
The complexities and subtleties of multiple isotopes, types of radiation, rates of decay, methods of spread and dissipation, human uptake, stochastic processes, repair mechanisms, linear estimates and genetic susceptibility are never mentioned and lost in the paranoia.
Measuring my hands for radiation is an unbelievable waste of time and money.
Being a Radiologist, the chance of coming into contact with some isotope is the hospital is far more probable.
What would they do with the information anyway, stop air travel? I guess the TSA had nothing better to do.
The determination of the size of the evacuation zone for Japan was probably made by some low level bureaucrat based upon some contamination numbers picked out of the air.
No one knows the exact amount of radiation spread.
The Japanese know that increasing the area of evacuation will lead to more refugees, deaths from car accidents, and problems moving old people.
They want to keep the area small.
The USA is worried about being sued by its citizens, has very few people in the area, and has little to lose by being cautious.
They can make the evacuation area large, because there is no downside.
Finally, Ann Coulter actually has a point.
At low levels radiation may induce DNA repair enzymes that excise dangerous mutations, and hence be beneficial.
Such repair mechanisms evolved over billions of years to deal with natural background radiation, and are even present in bacteria.
The point is that the impact of damage from radiation is not linear.
At high doses, damage gets done and overwhelms the body's ability to repair it.
However, as doses get lower, the body can repair some of the damage.
I think that if Homeopathy practitioners used radiation, they may actually not be talking nonsense.
2) After a once in a generation earthquake and tsunami, loss of electric power, ineffective government response, and six involved reactors, the most likely outcome is the death of a few hundred people.
This number, although tragic, is less than the number of people that die yearly in the mining, transport and burning of coal and oil.
3) Americans, the news media, and many so called "experts", are beyond ignorant when it comes to their understanding of the risks of radiation.
Blatantly false, paranoid and downright dangerous misleading information is disseminated by medical commentators, bloggers, and the surgeon general Yesterday I was screened for radiation exposure at the airport prior to boarding an airplane.
Last night I heard two talking heads arguing about whether the difference between a 20 and 50 mile evacuation zone meant the USA and Japanese governments were fighting.
This morning I saw how Ann Coulter said radiation is good for you.
It all wants to make me want to scream.
I will discuss these issues later, two of the three are completely bogus.
I have a degree in biophysics, am a Radiologist, and did research in radiation/tissue interaction for many years.
The complexities and subtleties of multiple isotopes, types of radiation, rates of decay, methods of spread and dissipation, human uptake, stochastic processes, repair mechanisms, linear estimates and genetic susceptibility are never mentioned and lost in the paranoia.
Measuring my hands for radiation is an unbelievable waste of time and money.
Being a Radiologist, the chance of coming into contact with some isotope is the hospital is far more probable.
What would they do with the information anyway, stop air travel? I guess the TSA had nothing better to do.
The determination of the size of the evacuation zone for Japan was probably made by some low level bureaucrat based upon some contamination numbers picked out of the air.
No one knows the exact amount of radiation spread.
The Japanese know that increasing the area of evacuation will lead to more refugees, deaths from car accidents, and problems moving old people.
They want to keep the area small.
The USA is worried about being sued by its citizens, has very few people in the area, and has little to lose by being cautious.
They can make the evacuation area large, because there is no downside.
Finally, Ann Coulter actually has a point.
At low levels radiation may induce DNA repair enzymes that excise dangerous mutations, and hence be beneficial.
Such repair mechanisms evolved over billions of years to deal with natural background radiation, and are even present in bacteria.
The point is that the impact of damage from radiation is not linear.
At high doses, damage gets done and overwhelms the body's ability to repair it.
However, as doses get lower, the body can repair some of the damage.
I think that if Homeopathy practitioners used radiation, they may actually not be talking nonsense.