Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Reason number 2,554,389 why I love Ann Coulter, from her column today:
With the terrible earthquake and resulting tsunami that have devastated Japan, the only good news is that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer.
This only seems counterintuitive because of media hysteria for the past 20 years trying to convince Americans that radiation at any dose is bad. There is, however, burgeoning evidence that excess radiation operates as a sort of cancer vaccine.
As The New York Times science section reported in 2001, an increasing number of scientists believe that at some level -- much higher than the minimums set by the U.S. government -- radiation is good for you. "They theorize," the Times said, that "these doses protect against cancer by activating cells' natural defense mechanisms."
No one else does the research she does, and can put it quite the way she does. Worried about radiation? Don't be. It's not only not bad for you, it's kinda good for you. And then she goes in for the kill:
I guess good radiation stories are not as exciting as news anchors warning of mutant humans and scary nuclear power plants -- news anchors who, by the way, have injected small amounts of poison into their foreheads to stave off wrinkles. Which is to say: The general theory that small amounts of toxins can be healthy is widely accepted --except in the case of radiation.
Every day Americans pop multivitamins containing trace amount of zinc, magnesium, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, nickel, boron -- all poisons.
They get flu shots. They'll drink copious amounts of coffee to ingest a poison: caffeine. (Back in the '70s, Professor Cohen offered to eat as much plutonium as Ralph Nader would eat caffeine -- an offer Nader never accepted.)
Every now and then -- and if Ann is reading this (and she does read Ricochet) I guess I should say each and every time -- she writes a column and you want to put it down for a moment, to applaud.
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Jun '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Dan Patrick, the former great ESPN Sports Center guy, has the best sports talk show on radio (it's also on cable).
He has a great recurring line: "If you're afraid, buy a dog." Ann Coulter does not need a dog.
Dec '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
She may be correct, but I do not think I will test that theory on me. You go ahead.
May '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
LOVE COULTER.
Dec '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
I recently read an article indicating much of Colorado has a much higher level of normal background radiation than the rest of the country. It reported a study was done on the incidence of cancer in Colorado. The expectation was it would show a slightly higher level of cancer there than in the rest of the country.
The study revealed the opposite, a lower level. The article I read said the researchers had no explanation for this unexpected result and were searching for one.
This could explain it.
May '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Ann is being too glib here. It's easy to shoot off the one liners when you and your children are not at significant risk of injury. Radioactive Iodine, Cesium and other products of nuclear decay are toxic as they are ingested/absorbed by the body and cause radiation damage to cells.
Many cases of Thyroid cancer in children around Chernobyl can be attributed to Iodine being absorbed, and to a Communist government that chose to not distribute prophylactic Iodine when they knew what had happend.
That said, there are many places witth background radiation way above the average exposure levels, including Colorado, Flinders Rangers Australia, and others with no apparent ill effect.
Edited on Mar 17, 2011 at 10:49amDec '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
So Rob - if Ann reads Ricochet, when is she going to be a guest on the Podcast?
Sep '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
I do, too, but Ann, to a much greater extent, has already increased her cancer risk by smoking; even more so if she continues to smoke.
Like I say in the drug legalization posts, dose matters, though it is oft forgotten.
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Well, the old toxicologists' maxim is The poison is the dose. Talleyrand is right—if you get a hunk of, say, radioactive iodine stuck in your thyroid, you're going to be in big trouble. But if you've got, say, granite countertops in your kitchen (granite being radioactive at some minuscule level), it’ll never do a thing to you.
But I was just going to cite the point Nickolas did—that people who live in areas with higher-than-normal background radiation seem to be healthier in certain respects than those who don't.
If I recall right, one theory about the cancer rate is that the constant stimulation by low levels of radiation spurs their cells to be more active at self-repair and thus less vulnerable to catastrophic mutations. Or something like that. I don't even play a doctor on TV.
Edited on Mar 17, 2011 at 11:53amRe: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Working on it!
Oct '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Dan Holmes
I do, too, but Ann, to a much greater extent, has already increased her cancer risk by smoking; even more so if she continues to smoke.
Like I say in the drug legalization posts, dose matters, though it is oft forgotten. · Mar 17 at 11:44am
Great thing about statistics, they don't apply to the individual.
Nov '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Love Coulter also. Rush was saying today that they give a small dose of radiation to bananas to keep them from ripening, so they'll still be yellow when they reach the store. He said they occasionally set off metal detectors at airports.
Dec '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Sweet. I may finally get to realize my childhood dream of becoming the Incredible Hulk.
Oct '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Rush was mistaken in two ways: (1) irradiation of food does not cause the food to become radioactive and (2) bananas are naturally radioactive due to the Potassium-40 that they contain.
Oct '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
There is some sound advice in boosting the immune system by inducing some stress to same.. How much and with what ?
Perhaps a few more trips thru the TSA scanners just might be good fer us ???
Oct '10
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
Ann Coulter's ability to find the core, the nut, the nexus of an issue and hide it in a joke must be what drives the left moonbat crazy, because she sure does it consistently. Plenty of conservatives pundits point to the same issues--we're talking about plain truths, after all, not mysteries of the secret nine--but getting to the heart of it with humor the way she does has got to hurt those folks.
Steyn and Lileks have that talent also.
Is schadenfreude always bad?
Mar '11
Re: Radiation? Ann Coulter Says: Bring it On!
This idea of radiation (and other toxins) being good for you, in certain doses, potentially, has a name - hormesis.
From Wikipedia: Hormesis (from Greek hórmēsis "rapid motion, eagerness," from ancient Greek hormáein "to set in motion, impel, urge on") is the term for generally-favorable biological responses to low exposures to toxins and other stressors.
Obviously too much of something can be bad and perhaps kill you, but that does not mean that zero is the healthiest level of exposure.
I am relieved that my accidental exposure to disco in the seventies may not shorten my lifespan, and may even help to prolong it. Sweet, but I still have the nightmares.