LNT Graph Shape

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Lehman57 Guru Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Louisville, OH Posts: 1691 Good Answers: 33	LNT Graph Shape 09/25/2023 10:08 AM
	I can’t recall seeing the shape of the current graph that replaced that of the LNT Theory; that is, a graph of percentage of deaths versus radiation dose. The LNT Theory has been shown to be wrong, but I haven’t seen the replacement. I assume that it is horizontal until the threshold, then rises, looking a bit like an integral sign, until it becomes asymptotic with the original LNT graph. Wade Allison shows a couple of graphs in his book Radiation and Reason. One shows that it dips below the horizontal, into the negative deaths region, between zero and the threshold, indicating that very low doses of radiation are protective. It also shows that it overshoots the LNT graph as it rises, indicating that LNT is pessimistic. Does anyone have an up-to-date graph? Thanks. __________________ Lehman57
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Rixter Guru Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: About 4000 miles from the center of the earth (+/-100 mi) Posts: 9458 Good Answers: 1081	#1 Re: LNT Graph Shape 09/25/2023 10:50 AM
	I'm thinking there is no consensus on what the correct curve is, if there is one. It may be that different people have a different response, perhaps due to genetics. LNT is an oversimplification in that it assumes no repair is done by the body. If the body can repair the damage, low levels would not be harmful. A further complication is that there is a background level that everyone is exposed to, some more than others (e.g. airplane crew members).
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redfred Guru Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15393 Good Answers: 949	#2 Re: LNT Graph Shape 09/25/2023 1:21 PM
	LNT theory pertains to the risk of cancer and not the result of getting cancer, let alone death by cancer. Since we do not yet know how tissues sometimes become cancerous we cannot quantify the risk from any vector. LNT attempts to qualify the risk of cancer from one vector, radiation. By far the most common effect of radiation on a living body is the killing cells. That's why focused radiation is used to treat cancer when surgery and/or chemotherapy is not possible. __________________ "Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
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SolarEagle Guru Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: by the beach in Florida Posts: 32559 Good Answers: 1782	#3 Re: LNT Graph Shape 09/25/2023 6:58 PM
	..."The LNT model is commonly used by regulatory bodies as a basis for formulating public health policies that set regulatory dose limits to protect against the effects of radiation. The model has also been used in the assessment of cancer risks of mutagenic chemicals. The validity of the LNT model, however, is disputed, and other significant models exist: the threshold model, which assumes that very small exposures are harmless, the radiation hormesis model, which says that radiation at very small doses can be beneficial, and the supra-linear model based on observational data.^[2] Whenever the cancer risk is estimated from real data at low doses, and not from extrapolation of observations at high doses, the supra-linear model is verified.^[3] It has been argued that the LNT model may have created an irrational fear of radiation.^[1]^[4] "... Different assumptions on the extrapolation of the cancer risk vs. radiation dose to low-dose levels, given a known risk at a high dose: (A) supra-linearity, (B) linear (C) linear-quadratic, (D) hormesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_no-threshold_model https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/12/3043 __________________ All living things seek to control their own destiny....this is the purpose of life
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