Calabrese Edward J, Giordano James
, Morrill I, N344, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20007, USA.
Chem Biol Interact. 2023 Oct 27:110787. doi: 10.1016/j.cbi.2023.110787.
A newly discovered letter written by Hermann J. Muller in August 1948, reveals that he claimed to have evidence that multiple papers by Frederick Hanson and Florence Heys, including those that supported the linear non-threshold (LNT) dose response model for hereditary and cancer risk assessment, were fraudulent and thus untrustworthy. Muller failed to bring this issue, which he referred to as a major scientific scandal, to the attention of the scientific community, remaining silent for the remainder of his career. Since Muller was a recipient of substantial funding by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and Hanson was a senior RF program director, instrumental in the process that awarded funding for Muller and other geneticists, it suggested that Muller may have been conflicted in his recognized obligation to the scientific community to expose possible scientific misconduct, and his desire to ensure both continuing funding from the RF and his advocacy for the adoption of the LNT model of radiation risk assessment. In this conflicted situation, Muller seems to have opted for self-interest, failing to bring his concerns/challenges about the publications of his RF funding colleague Hanson to public forum via acceptable venues that typically permit full exposition of disputes. Muller's decision to act in this manner permitted the papers that he deemed as untrustworthy to be widely, and continuously cited (to the present), and in this way, affect worldwide acceptance of the LNT model by the scientific community and regulatory agencies in ways that may negatively impact radiation science, subsequent LNT interpretation, and the public health.
1948年8月赫尔曼·J·穆勒（Hermann J. Muller）新发现的一封信表明，他声称有证据证明弗雷德里克·汉森（Frederick Hanson）和弗洛伦斯·海斯（Florence Heys）的多篇论文存在欺诈行为，因此不可信，其中包括那些支持用于遗传和癌症风险评估的线性无阈（LNT）剂量反应模型的论文。穆勒未能将这个他称之为重大科学丑闻的问题提请科学界注意，在其职业生涯的剩余时间里一直保持沉默。由于穆勒是洛克菲勒基金会（RF）大量资金的接受者，而汉森是RF的高级项目主任，在为穆勒和其他遗传学家授予资金的过程中发挥了重要作用，这表明穆勒在履行向科学界揭露可能的科学不当行为的公认义务与确保继续获得RF的资金以及他对采用LNT辐射风险评估模型的倡导之间可能存在冲突。在这种冲突的情况下，穆勒似乎选择了自身利益，未能通过通常允许充分阐述争议的可接受渠道，将他对RF资助的同事汉森的出版物的担忧/质疑提交到公共论坛。穆勒以这种方式做出的决定使得他认为不可信的论文被广泛且持续地引用（直至现在），并以可能对辐射科学、后续的LNT解释和公众健康产生负面影响的方式，影响了科学界和监管机构对LNT模型的全球接受度。
