The inverse dose-rate effect and the extrapolation of radon risk estimates from exposures of miners to low-level exposures in homes

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1994 · Radiation Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/3578859· OSTI ID:6439679

Pushkin, J S ^[1]

---

1. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)

This letter is written in response to a paper in which the author discusses the inverse dose-rate dependence of oncogenic transformation by high-LET radiation. The author asserts that, as a consequence, the extrapolation of results from miners exposed to high levels of radon daughters could overestimate the risk due to environmental exposures. By using a model increased cell sensitivity in one part of the cell cycle, the author assumes an inverse dose-rate effect should occur only at high doses, but the author of this letter points out that this does not imply a lower risk per unit dose at low doses. According to this letter, the existence of an inverse dose-rate effect for high-LET radiation provides no grounds for projecting lower lung cancer risks per unit exposure at environmental radon levels than at the higher radon level in mines. Failure to adjust for any inverse dose-rate effect in the studies of miners can only lead to an underestimation of the environmental risk.

• OSTI ID: 6439679
• Journal Information: Radiation Research; (United States), Vol. 138:1; ISSN 0033-7587
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CELL CYCLE
SENSITIVITY
MINERS
RADIATION DOSES
RISK ASSESSMENT
RADON
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
LET
ANIMALS
DOSES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUIDS
GASES
MAMMALS
MAN
NONMETALS
PERSONNEL
PRIMATES
RARE GASES
VERTEBRATES
560160* - Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology
560101 - Biomedical Sciences
Applied Studies- Radiation Effects- Dosimetry & Monitoring- (1992-)
550500 - Metabolism