RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The BEIR VII Estimates of Low-Dose Radiation Health Risks Are Based on Faulty Assumptions and Data Analyses: A Call for Reassessment
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 1017
OP 1019
DO 10.2967/jnumed.117.206219
VO 59
IS 7
A1 Jeffry A. Siegel
A1 Bennett S. Greenspan
A1 Alan H. Maurer
A1 Andrew T. Taylor
A1 William T. Phillips
A1 Douglas Van Nostrand
A1 Bill Sacks
A1 Edward B. Silberstein
YR 2018
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/59/7/1017.abstract
AB The 2006 National Academy of Sciences Biologic Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) VII report is a well-recognized and frequently cited source on the legitimacy of the linear no-threshold (LNT) model—a model entailing a linear and causal relationship between ionizing radiation and human cancer risk. Linearity means that all radiation causes cancer and explicitly excludes a threshold below which radiogenic cancer risk disappears. However, the BEIR VII committee has erred in the interpretation of its selected literature; specifically, the in vitro data quoted fail to support LNT. Moreover, in vitro data cannot be considered as definitive proof of cancer development in intact organisms. This review is presented to stimulate a critical reevaluation by a BEIR VIII committee to reassess the validity, and use, of LNT and its derived policies.