I Am The Smartest Man Alive!

Ian posted a blog entry before last Thanksgiving worrying about the new airport security measures with the "full body scanners."

So Very, Very Tempted

I laughed out loud when I read this article today on CNN.com

Cancer risk is low, but possible in airport scanners

If you read my comment from the blog post 5 months ago, you will see that my conclusion mirrors that of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a very well respected journal in medicine. Or is it the other way around??? I think our little blog here is getting very, very powerful!!! Next, I'm just waiting for the NFL and NFLPA to click on, and they can see my simple solution and end this stupid lockout.

By the way, I must mention the total douche in the CNN article that was quoted as an "expert," David Brenner, the director of the Center for Radiological Research at the Columbia University Medical Center.

“The bottom line is that both my paper and this suggest that there will be some cancers produced in the long run from mass screening with X-rays.

Notice how he quickly refers to his own paper. I guess he subscribes to the linear no-threshold dose model (LNT). Unfortunately, he is wrong. There is scientific debate over this topic, which I will not bore you with, but every radiological society agrees the LNT model is incorrect. The only people that believe it are government groups run by politicians that don't understand and are too scared of radiation and nuclear power to base their decisions on reasonable facts. But this a-hole goes even further.

“The analogy I usually give is with someone buying a lottery ticket. Your individual chance of winning is extremely small, but we do know that some people will indeed win. There is considerable uncertainty about just how many cancers that will be.”

No there f-ing isn't! It is nothing like a lottery ticket! Lottery odds are based on actual stats. This risk is based on a false assumption! Furthermore, his statement shows his ignorance. If he actually does believe in the LNT model, then HE CAN CALCULATE THE NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL CANCERS! THAT'S WHAT THAT MODEL DOES!!!! Very convenient that he leaves that important fact out. You also notice how the premise of the article is not mentioned again: If you are worried about getting cancer from a backscatter machine, then what the hell are you doing getting on a plane? You are over 100 times more likely to get cancer from the actual flight!!!

This is classic cover-you-butt politics. It makes me sick.