Lnt Vs Hormesis Model

As a Radiologic Technology student, we are taught to constantly follow ALARA. This is to always protect the patient with a dose of radiation that is As Low As Reasonably Achievable. There are two models of radiation that scientists and medical professionals use to achieve safe amounts of radiation on a patient. These are the LNT (linear no-threshold) model and the Hormesis model. The linear no-threshold model was introduced in the 1940’s when the Atomic bomb was set off in Japan. The outcome of that bombing produced very high exposures of radiation to the public. This model claimed that all radiation exposure cases cause cancer risks.3 However, according to the International Dose-Response Society “the scientific validity of this model
People were using radioactive bath soaps, radioactive toothpastes, and radioactive water. Radioactivity was depicted as a phenomenon and declared that they would produce profound evidence of revitalization. Even though there were numerous amounts of medical literature on radiation, “quack radioactive products flourished and mild radium therapy was used in everyday treatments”.6 These radiation compounds, on such a large scale, led to the recognition that using such amounts of radiation, on or in the body, can cause serious complications. It was in 1932 that the millionaire sportsman and socialist, Edem M Byers died of radium therapy that issued a cease and desist order on advertising the use of Radiothor.12 This was the first instance that caused society to look at what radiation was doing to them, then came the production of the atomic bomb, that is where the government would step in and start to regulate what amounts would be safe to
Consuming low levels of radiation is a common occurrence in our natural environment. Radiation can be found in some of the foods we eat, we get it from the sun, the atmosphere, and even in some of the medications and supplements we take. These occurrences can be broken into two groups: cosmogenic sources and terrestrial sources. Cosmogenic sources come from certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere and from cosmic rays. Very little of these cosmogenic sources reach the Earth’s surface, except at higher altitudes where radiation doses increase. This explains why people living in the seven states with the highest altitudes have fifteen percent lower cancer rates than the average for the United States.7 Some of these states are: Alaska, Colorado, Utah and