title: Problems in the radon vs lung cancer test of the linear no-threshold theory and a procedure for resolving them.
abstract: It has been shown that lung cancer rates in U.S. Counties, with or without correction for smoking, decrease with increasing radon exposure, in sharp contrast to the increase predicted by the linear no-threshold theory. The discrepancy is by 20 standard deviations, and very extensive efforts to explain it were not successful. It is pointed out that, unless a plausible explanation for this discrepancy (or conflicting evidence) can be found, continued use of the linear no-threshold theory is a violation of "The Scientific Method." Various explanations that have been offered for ignoring these results are examined and shown not to be valid. A simple procedure for clearly settling the issue is proposed.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008954:Models, Biological; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D011886:Radon / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D011886:Radon