Ambient office  =  67 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Crimini mushroom from Central Market = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 53 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  =  78 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 47 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 59 nanosieverts per hour

Dover sole – Caught in USA = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Part 3 of 3 Parts (Please read Parts 1 and 2 first)
       The NCRPM meta-study involved dozens of experts from academia, government and the nuclear industry. Twenty-nine contemporary scientific studies on the effects of low-dose radiation were analyzed. The conclusion of the meta-study reaffirmed that even low dose of radiation should be avoided if possible. While the correlation between excessive radiation exposure and many types of cancer is clear, evidence of danger from low-dose exposure is not as clear but is still present. Some studies have shown that people subjected to repeated X-rays have a linear cancer risk related to the number of X-rays.
       The meta-study concluded that there was no conclusive evidence that could refute the linear no-threshold model of radiation danger that has been the orthodox opinion for decades. The NRC will include the meta-study in their deliberations on the relaxation of radiation dose standards.
        Unfortunately, the meta-study conclusions did not end the radiation dose danger debate because the relaxation of regulations is major goal of the Trump administration. If the NRC, dominated by Republicans, does relax radiation dose standards, this would please many in the Trump administration and many among the Republican in Congress. The relaxation of radiation dose standards has been making some progress beyond the debate at the NRC.
       Last fall, the House Republicans held a hearing on the EPA proposal to reduce radiation standards which would save the nuclear industry billions of dollars. One of the supporters of radiation hormesis at the hearing was Edward Calabrese who is a professor of toxicology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has a long association with industries trying to ease government regulation. He runs a center funded by R.J. Reynolds, Dow-Corning, ExxonMobil and utility companies. He is also the founder of the Dose Response journal mentioned above.
       When Scott Pruitt left the EPA under a cloud of corruption charges, the proposal to change the radiation standards was shelved but it will likely be reconsidered in 2020. Another bill aimed at relaxing radiation exposure standards was passed by the House of Representatives in 2017. A companion bill was also introduced in the Senate but the fact that the House is now in control of the Democrats suggests that these bills will have a tough time making it to the president’s desk.
       Janet McCabe is an environmental lawyer who was the head of the division of the EPA responsible for radiation and air pollution protection under the Obama administration. She compares the supporters of radiation hormesis with climate deniers who work for corporations which would profit enormously from changes in government regulation. She said that she was not surprised that a fringe idea like radiation hormesis was fining traction with the Trump administration.
       A major problem with assessing cancer risk from radiation exposure is the fact that it can take decades for the effects of radiation to show up in a human body. With all the other modern factors that can cause cancer, it can be difficult to pin down the cause of any particular cancer. It is worth noting that if the proponents of radiation hormesis are wrong, it could take decades for their mistake to show up in the damaged health of recipients of low dose of radiation. With respect to dangers of radiation exposure, it is best to err on the side of caution.

Ambient office  =  80 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Pineapple from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
       One of the comments to the NRC on relaxation came in the form of a letter from Olav Christianson who manages a nuclear medicine practice in Pittsburgh. He said, “If hormesis is incorrect or only applies under certain circumstances, removing the ‘as low as reasonably achievable’ principle could result in a large number of excess cancers. Until we fully understand the health risks, we should continue to employ the most conservative approach.”   
       Mark Miller is one of the three petitioners from SARI. He worked at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico which is one of three nuclear weapons design facilities. One of his duties was to protect workers from excess radiation exposure. He sent a letter to Scott Pruitt, the Director of the EPA. Miller commented that he believed that the campaign of the Trump administration to reduce government regulation might be interested in his idea of radiation hormesis. A month after his letter, Pruitt proposed that the EPA change its regulations to include the idea of radiation hormesis.
       A second petitioner from SARI is named Carol Silber Marcus. She is a physician who specializes in nuclear medicine and a UCLA professor of radiology. At one time, she served on the NRC Advisory Committee on the Medical Use of Isotopes. She once told an interviewer that she worked as a consultant for lawyers defending clients against radiation overexposure claims and also consulted for radiological pharmaceutical companies. She published an article in 2016 in the journal Dose Response, a magazine created by believers in radiation hormesis to spread their ideas. She suggested that there should be a strike by organizations subject to the ALARA regulations to pressure the NRC to change its regulations. She has also said that she includes some radiobiology in her instruction to physicians and she tells them that the government is lying to them about low-does radiation exposure.
      Mohan Doss is the third member of SARI that signed the petition. He is a medical physicist and a professor at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He believes that there are well established benefits of low-level radiation exposure. He said, “There’s plenty of evidence that shows that cancer risk goes down after people receive exposures to low levels of radiation. If radiation exposure standards were relaxed, it would result in important savings for the nuclear industry.”
        Doss admits that when a person is exposed to a small amount of radiation, there is some cellular damage. He claims that this causes the cells to repair themselves and it also triggers the immune system. He says that the results in better overall health because the immune system is stronger. He also rejects the idea that children and fetuses are at any special risk from low-dose radiation because their immune systems are also strengthened.
       These are serious credentialed experts with respect to the effects of radiation on health but their conclusions about radiation hormesis are not shared by the majority of the experts on radiation and health. These experts insist that even low doses of radiation that harm cells can cause uncontrolled cell growth and replication years later. They also insist that children and fetuses are especially vulnerable to such dangers. This has been the majority view of radiation damage for at least seventy years. Last April, the nonprofit National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRPM) issued the results of a meta-study requested by the U.S. Congress and funded by the NRC.
Please read Part 3

Ambient office  =  100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Asparagus from Central Market = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 70 nanosieverts per hour