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Michael Swift, MD
New York Medical College Hawthorne

Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD
Fox Chase Cancer Center Cheltenham, Pa

Leslie Bernstein, PhD
University of Southern California

Susan M. Love, MD
UCLA Breast Center Los Angeles

JAMA. 1996;276(5):369.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The contribution of low doses of ionizing radiation to breast cancer incidence remains uncertain because definitive studies have not been done. In their report, Dr Boice and colleagues¹ claim the following: "Employment as a radiologic technologist... was not found to increase the risk of breast cancer. The contribution of prolonged exposure to relatively low doses of ionizing radiation to breast cancer risk was too small to be detectable at this time." If correct, this study would be strong evidence for the safety of low-dose exposure to ionizing radiation.

Unfortunately, this study is so flawed that it provides no evidence about breast cancer induction after low-dose ionizing radiation. Boice and colleagues matched 5 control radiologic technologists to each breast cancer case for sex, date of birth, calendar year of certification, and length of time between certification and breast cancer diagnosis for cases or index date for controls. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Margaret A. Winker, MD, Senior Editor, and Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD, Senior Editor.

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