DOI: 10.1097/hp.0000000000001775 ISSN: 1538-5159

If You Torture Your Data Long Enough, It Will Confess to Anything: On the Epidemiological Basis of the LNT Model

Yehoshua Socol
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
  • Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Epidemiology

This note deals with epidemiological data interpretation supporting the linear no-threshold model, as opposed to emerging evidence of adaptive response and hormesis from molecular biology in vitro and animal models. Particularly, the US–Japan Radiation Effects Research Foundation’s lifespan study of atomic bomb survivors is scrutinized. We stress the years-long lag of the data processing after data gathering and evolving statistical models and methodologies across publications. The necessity of cautious interpretation of radiation epidemiology results is emphasized.

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