US EPA

77765 

Journal Article 

Radiation hormesis - fact or fiction? 

Piispanen, R 

1995 

Yes 

Environmental Geochemistry and Health
ISSN: 0269-4042
EISSN: 1573-2983 

BIOSIS/95/29647 

17 

2 

95-102 

eng 

BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Deriving from the Greek verb hormein, which means to stimulate and excite, hormesis literally refers to any kind of stimulation and excitation. As a medical and geomedical term (though of unsettled status) it has a more restricted meaning however, indicating merely the putative or real stimulatory and beneficial effects observed when a biological system is exposed to a low dose of an agent known to be toxic or hazardous at a significantly larger dose. Depending on the type of stimulatory agent, one can speak of chemical or physical hormesis, radiation hormesis being a member of the latter group. The present paper reviews and evaluates the history and origins of the concept of radiation hormesis and its present status - fact or fiction. It is concluded that despite the numerous, sometimes undeniably strong, individual pieces of evidence that have been presented in favour of this phenomenon, the bulk of the evidence is so far not strong enough to establish it as a scienti 

Radiation-Radiation Effects and Protective Measures; Biochemical Studies-Minerals; Pathology; Public Health: Environmental Health-Radiation Health; Hominidae