More From Ed Calabrese on Environmental Regulation

University of Massachusetts toxicologist (and Cato adjunct scholar) Edward J. Calabrese hasarrived.   On October 3, he testified to the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight, a part of the larger Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by John Barrasso (R-WY).Calabrese was asked for his expert opinion on a draft EPA proposal to consider alternative regulatory models, including ditching the “Linear-No Threshold” (LNT) model that it employs, as does almost every other regulatory agency on earth.  You can read about EPA’s proposalhere.The LNT model assumes that the first photon of ionizing radiation (or the first molecule of a carcinogen) is capable of inducing a genetic mutation (i.e. altered DNA) that can be then transmitted to future generations.Many years ago, Calabrese went looking for the scientific basis for the LNT, for it ran counter to what he was finding in his toxicological research —that low doses of some toxins or ionizing radiation may actually confer benefits. That, of course, is also the basis for much of modern chemical pharmacology.Try as he could, and he tried for years, he could not locate the seminal science that gave rise to the LNT.   But he did find its progenitor, Hermann Muller, who claimed to have induced heritable point mutations with X-rays in the fruit-flyDrosophila. But where was the data and the peer-reviewed study?   Muller did author a brief article inScienceon July 22, 1927, but, as...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs