How Risky are those CT Scans?
New England Journal of Medicine researchers conclude that millions of Americans may be exposed to high doses of radiation from medical imaging. The study says that an estimated "400,000 of those patients receive very high doses, more than the maximum annual exposure allowed for nuclear power plant employees or anyone else who works with radioactive material."
Yet the radiation dose limits for nuclear workers are absurdly low. Our public health committee is looking at articles on radiation doses from imaging studies. We have a lot of information on doses. But there is nothing on actual cancer rates. Radiation doses from medical imaging began increasing in the 1980s, so significant time has elapsed. If there were an increase in cancer that could be blamed on CT scans, I'll bet the lawyers would've found it by now!
Predictions of increased cancer are based on the "linear no threshold" model, invented by Linus Pauling. It works by extrapolating the effects of high dosage/impact back through the zero point at the origin. So if 1 person dies from ingesting 1,000 aspirin tablets at once, we conclude that one out of 1,000 persons will die if each takes one aspirin, and two out of 2,000 people will die if each takes one. This model is supported by no evidence, contradicted by large amounts of evidence, and is absurd on its face.
