Reply #21: Apparently, some people will go even farther and misrepresent the data and

[NNadir]

imply that low doses of radiation are responsible for millions upon millions of deaths. It is alleged in this (as usual unreferreed) link that over a forty year period 339 out of 4687 cancer deaths in a population of 50,113 were attributed to radiation exposure to the atomic bombs radiation. No effort is made to explore confounding factors, but let's take 'em at their word. This means that every year on average 8.475 people in this sample of over 50,000 died from allegedly radiation induced cancer from a deliberate attack with radiation, or 0.017%. This is a far lower risk than is associated with many other activities, including living next to a coal burning plant or a biomass burning plant. Driving a car is almost as dangerous. Going into a smoky bar day after day is certainly more dangerous.

Also, this study makes no allowance for the fact that among atomic bomb survivors, many other confounding possibilites for disease exist. Their cities burned and they were exposed to huge amounts of toxic smoke and chemicals. They went without health care for weeks in areas that had not only radiation, but many other toxic substances, many with their primary protective organ, their skin, badly damaged.

Nor does this study provide a real accounting of intensity of exposure, relative shielding or time, since is very unlikely that they have tracking data for the movements of 50,000 people in the weeks after the most disorganizing event of their lives. It may be that low levels of radiation distributed constantly have very different health effects than large doses made all at once.

Of course, if you are singularly myopic you will cruise the internet rather mindlessly finding links to support your bias, ignoring the wisdom of critical thinking, you will certainly draw expected conclusions.

I could do the same thing: "Dr. Y. Okumura and Dr. M. Mine of the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, report (1997) on survivor death rates that:

"Among about 100,000 A-bomb survivors registered at Nagasaki University School of Medicine, male subjects exposed to 31 - 40 cGy showed significantly lower mortality from non-cancerous diseases than age-matched unexposed males. And the death rate for exposed male and female was smaller than that for unexposed. It was presented that the low doses of A-bomb radiation increased lifespan of A-bomb survivors...
...The above data suggest that small doses of A-bomb radiation decreased death rate and relative risk and that increased lifespan of A-bomb survivors (Kondo 1993)."

http://cnts.wpi.edu/RSH/Data_Docs/1-2/1/1212ok97.html

My mindless link has, if you look in the references pages, oh, about 4 or 5 hundred references to scientific journals attached, not that I would expect science ever to effect religious beliefs.