Radiation, Science, and Health

Author Index to Papers and Documents

Myron Pollycove, M.D.

Science Papers
Technical Articles
Conference Papers
Presentations

Technical Articles
Biologic Responses to Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Detriment Versus Hormesis
Part 1. Dose Responses of Cells and Tissues, July 2001, Ludwig Feinendegen, MD, and Myron Pollycove, MD [PDF, 746 KB]
Part 2. Dose Responses of Organisms, September 2001, by Myron Pollycove, MD, and Ludwig Feinendegen, MD [PDF, 455 KB]
Journal of Nuclear Medicine In this two-part special contribution to Newsline, Ludwig Feinendegen and Myron Pollycove present current basic research data supporting radiation hormesis. Both authors believe that such data is often ignored in the face of a persistent and enduring scientific adherence to the linear no-threshold dose presumption. The authors suggest that a reassessment of this data is overdue and could have striking implications for the future practice of nuclear medicine.

Conference Papers
Cellular and Organism Dose-Response: Biopositive (Health Benefit) Effects, 2000, Myron Pollycove, M.D., U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville MD, mxp@nrc.gov; Prof. Emeritus, UC San Francisco; and Ludwig E. Feinendegen, M.D., Prof. Emeritus Julich, and Senior Researcher U.S. DOE and National Institutes of Health, feinendegen@gmx.net, 
     "Abstract: The genes in every cell continuously undergo an immense amount of metabolic damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS) which is prevented, repaired, and removed by a complex antimutagenic system. Recent studies document low dose radiation stimulation of many cellular functions, including antioxidant prevention, enzymatic repair, and immunologic and apoptotic removal of DNA damage. This homeostatic system is stimulated by a ten, or even a hundredfold increase in background radiation. Enhanced prevention of gene mutations by the spatial and temporal differences of ionizing radiation ROS and metabolic ROS is associated with radiation hormesis: decreased mortality and decreased cancer mortality observed in populations exposed to low dose radiation. Therapeutic stimulation of the immune system by low dose body irradiation prevents and removes cancer metastases in mice, rats, and humans.

The Beneficial Effect of Low Dose Radiation … And Why, 1999, Myron Pollycove, Prof. Emeritus, U. California San Francisco; US NRC, In: "Health Effects: Applying Data to Standards,"at The Seventh International Conference on Nuclear Engineering: ICONE-7, Special Symposium

Molecular Biology, Epidemiology, and the Demise of the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) Hypothesis, 1998, by Myron Pollycove, M.D.,   Visiting Medical Fellow, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Professor Emeritus Laboratory Medicine and Radiology, University of California, San Francisco. June 8, 1998,  International Symposium on Health Effects of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation, International Centre for Low-Dose Radiation Research, University of Ottawa. 
     NCRP 121 states "...essentially no human data, can be said to prove or even to provide direct support for the concept of collective dose with its implicit uncertainties of non-threshold, linearity and dose-rate independence."  Michael Bishop, Nobel Laureate discoverer of the oncogene, states, "A single mutation is not enough to cause cancer. In a lifetime, every single gene is likely to have undergone mutation on about 10¹⁰ separate occasions in any individual human being." A new understanding of the effects of radiation on organisms has developed from rapid advances of molecular biology during the past two decades. We now understand why low-level radiation is beneficial. These biological studies have confirmed that free radicals produced by the normal metabolism of oxygen generate a very high background of oxidative DNA damage in every cell every day. Low-dose radiation stimulates immune response. Extensive human data, including successful treatment of cancer, confirm these biological effects.

"The Rise And Fall of the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) Theory," by Myron Pollycove, M.D., Visiting Medical Fellow, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Professor Emeritus Laboratory Medicine and Radiology, University of California, San Francisco.
     "No low-dose radiation study ( less than 20 cGy ) supports the LNT theory of increased carcinogenesis and mortality risk, while several statistically significant low-dose studies do contradict the theory. The biophysical concept of carcinogenesis from mutations that are induced by low-dose, low-dose rate DNA damage is incorrect because it ignores:
    "That the molecular biology of our DNA damage-control biosystem that each day effectively removes 10¹⁶ mis/unrepaired DNA alterations of which only 10⁹ are induced by background radiation. That.low dose radiation stimulates and improves the highly effective DNA damage-control biosystem that keeps us alive until it declines with age or is damaged by high doses of radiation or other agents."

Application of Low Doses of Radiation for Curing Cancer, 2000, Jerry M. Cuttler DSc, Cuttler & Associates Inc., 1781 Medallion Court, Mississauga ON Canada, jerrycuttler@home.com; Myron Pollycove MD, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville MD, mxp@nrc.gov; James S. Welsh MD, Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, Baltimore MD, welshja@jhmi.edu
      "Abstract: Successful clinical trials of low dose irradiation therapy for curing cancer were carried out in the USA in the 1970s and, more recently, in Japan and France. A cure of colon cancer and a case study of the successful control of a cancer of the blood following this low-dose therapy are reported. The prompt, beneficial response of the patient’s blood data to the radiation exposures supports the notion of radiation hormesis in humans. Widespread application of low dose therapy would help many cancer patients and could help to correct misconceptions and resolve the controversy about the biological effects of low doses of ionizing radiation."

Presentations