ArticleBiological theory
Epidemiology Without Biology: False Paradigms, Unfounded Assumptions, and Specious Statistics in Radiation Science (with Commentaries by Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake and Christopher Busby and a Reply by the Authors).
Article in Biological theory. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Low Dose Radiation Therapy for COVID-19 Pneumonia: Learnings of 4 Years Since Pandemic.Clinical and translational science · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of thirty-two case-control and two ecological radon studies of lung cancer.Journal of radiation research · 2018Pooled it
- Principles of radiological protection and application of ALARA, ALADA, and ALADAIP: a critical review.Brazilian oral research · 2025Review
- Risk and Safety in Radiographic Utilization: Evaluating the Evidence From Current Research.Radiology research and practice · 2025Review
- The scientific nature of the linear no-threshold (LNT) model used in the system of radiological protection.Radiation and environmental biophysics · 2024Article
- Article
- William Jackson Schull and mutation studies on human cohorts.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Quantification of DNA Double Strand Breaks and Oxidation Response in Children and Adults Undergoing Dental CBCT Scan.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) Science and the CBRNE Science Medical Operations Science Support Expert (CMOSSE).Disaster medicine and public health preparedness · 2019Article
- CT in Crohn's Disease Is Beneficial for Patient Care and Should Not Be Feared.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2019Article
- Educating about radiation risks in high schools: towards improved public understanding of the complexity of low-dose radiation health effects.Radiation and environmental biophysics · 2019Article
- Striking a balance in the discussion of the benefits of imaging tests and risks of radiation exposure.Journal of nuclear cardiology : official publication of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology · 2019Article
- Increasing the cervical and lumbar lordosis is possible despite overt osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis using extension traction to relieve low back and leg pain in a 66-year-old surgical candidate: a CBPJournal of physical therapy science · 2018Article
- Risk factors for human cutaneous anthrax outbreaks in the hotspot districts of Northern Tanzania: an unmatched case-control study.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Overview of Biological, Epidemiological, and Clinical Evidence of Radiation Hormesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2018Review
- Non-operative correction of flat back syndrome using lumbar extension traction: a CBPJournal of physical therapy science · 2018Article
- Alleviation of chronic spine pain and headaches by reducing forward head posture and thoracic hyperkyphosis: a CBPJournal of physical therapy science · 2018Article
- Collaborative study of thresholds for mutagens: proposal of a typical protocol for detection of hormetic responses in cytotoxicity tests.Genes and environment : the official journal of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society · 2018Article
- Biological basis of radiation protection needs rejuvenation.International journal of radiation biology · 2017Review
- Rediscovery of an old article reporting that the area around the epicenter in Hiroshima was heavily contaminated with residual radiation, indicating that exposure doses of A-bomb survivors were largely underestimated.Journal of radiation research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Radiation science is dominated by a paradigm based on an assumption without empirical foundation. Known as the linear no-threshold (LNT) hypothesis, it holds that all ionizing radiation is harmful no matter how low the dose or dose rate. Epidemiological studies that claim to confirm LNT either neglect experimental and/or observational discoveries at the cellular, tissue, and organismal levels, or mention them only to distort or dismiss them. The appearance of validity in these studies rests on circular reasoning, cherry picking, faulty experimental design, and/or misleading inferences from weak statistical evidence. In contrast, studies based on biological discoveries demonstrate the reality of hormesis: the stimulation of biological responses that defend the organism against damage from environmental agents. Normal metabolic processes are far more damaging than all but the most extreme exposures to radiation. However, evolution has provided all extant plants and animals with defenses that repair such damage or remove the damaged cells, conferring on the organism even greater ability to defend against subsequent damage. Editors of medical journals now admit that perhaps half of the scientific literature may be untrue. Radiation science falls into that category. Belief in LNT informs the practice of radiology, radiation regulatory policies, and popular culture through the media. The result is mass radiophobia and harmful outcomes, including forced relocations of populations near nuclear power plant accidents, reluctance to avail oneself of needed medical imaging studies, and aversion to nuclear energy-all unwarranted and all harmful to millions of people.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.