Intense Fear Skews Public Perception Of Radiation’s Health Effects, Analysis Finds
There is a tendency to overestimate radiation's risks, the author of a newly released paper says.
Bloomberg:
Radiation Can Kill, But Not As Easily You Think
Since the bombings [on Hiroshima and Nagasaki], which occurred 71 years ago this week, many survivors and their children participated in studies that helped scientists understand the long-term effects of radiation exposure. About 120,000 survivors of the 1945 attacks, and 77,000 of their children, have taken part in the ongoing work since the 1940s. The research was conducted by the U.S. from 1947 to 1975, when Japan set up the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. This work helped inform the empirical basis for modern radiation exposure standards. (Roston, 8/11)
In other public health news —
WBUR:
Could Worms In Your Gut Cure Your Allergies?
So the hypothesis is that intestinal worms could possibly reverse these problems, by damping down the immune system. The idea was so promising, that back in 2011 a pharmaceutical company decided to test it in clinical trials. Coronado Biosciences put together about six large studies. The first study to finish was a big one in Europe, which looked to see if pig whipworms helped with Crohn's disease. (Doucleff, 8/12)
WBUR:
When New Parents Refuse Vitamin K Shots And Their Babies Get Brain Bleeds
It's standard medical care: Newborn babies get a shot of Vitamin K. It helps their blood clot, and prevents potentially dangerous bleeds. But a few new parents decline the shots for their babies, and their numbers seem to be rising — an apparent trend that’s deeply troubling to doctors from Nashville to New Zealand.American health authorities do not track Vitamin K refusals. But in recent years, anecdotal reports from hospitals and the CDC have described clusters of several babies who had brain bleeds and whose parents had declined the Vitamin K shot. (Goldberg, 8/12)
