Ethical issues of evidence relevant for risk policy are not adequately addressed if divorced from issues of the responsible interpretation of the risk evidence itself. Evidence for hormetic hypotheses are based on data that disagree with a null hypothesis asserting H0: zero (0) improvement (at low doses). We critically evaluate some of the reasoning and the procedures used by leading proponents of hormesis, and suggest how potential errors may be avoided.
1 Crump K . Evaluating the evidence for hormesis: a statistical perspective. Crit Rev Toxicol2001; 31: 669–679.
2.
2 Zapponi GA Marcello I . Low-dose risk, hormesis, analogical and logical thinking. Ann N Y Acad Sci2006; 1076: 839–857.
3.
3 Thayer KA Melnick R Burns K Davis D Huff J . Fundamental flaws of hormesis for public health decisions. Environ Health Perspect2005; 113: 1271–1276.
4.
4 Kitchin KT Drane JW . A critique of the use of hormesis in risk assessment. Hum Exp Toxicol2005; 24: 249–253.
5.
5 Calabrese EJ Baldwin LA . Can the concept of hormesis be generalized to carcinogenesis. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol1998; 28: 230–241.
6.
6 Calabrese EJ Baldwin LA . The hormetic dose-response model is more common than the threshold model in toxicology. Toxicol Sci2003; 71: 246–250.
7.
7 Calabrese EJ . Hormetic dose-response relationships in immunology: occurrence, qualitative features of the dose-response, mechanistic foundations, and clinical implications. Crit Rev Toxicol2005; 35: 89–295.
8.
9.
9 Mayo DG . Error and the growth of experimental knowledge.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; 1996.
10.
10 Mayo DG Kruse M . Principles of inference and their consequences. In: D Cornfield J Williamson , (ed), Foundations of bayesianism.Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 2001. p. 381–403.
11.
11 Mayo DG Cox DR . Frequentist statistics as a theory of inductive inference. In: Optimality: the second Erich L. Lehmann symposium. Lecture notes-monograph series, vol. 49. Ohio: Institute of Mathematical Statistics; 2006. p. 77–97.
12.
12 Mayo DG Spanos A . Philosophical scrutiny of evidence of risks: from bioethics to bioevidence. Philosophy of Science2006; 73: 803–816.
13.
13 Waalkes MP . Cadmium carcinogenesis. Mutat Res2003; 533: 107–120.
14.
14 Mayo DG Spanos A . Methodology in practice: statistical misspecification testing. Philos Sci2004; 71: 1007–1025.
15.
15 Elliott KC . A novel account of scientific anomaly: help for the dispute over low-dose biochemical. Philosophy of Science2006; 73: 790–802.
16.
16 Mayo DG . Sociological vs. metascientific views of risk assessment. In: DG Mayo RD Hollander , (eds), Acceptable evidence: science and values in risk management. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1991. p. 249–279.
17.
17 Mayo DG . An error-statistical philosophy of evidence. In: M Taper S Lele , (eds), The nature of scientific evidence: statistical, philosophical, and empirical consideration.Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2004. p. 79–118.
18.
18 Mayo DG Hollander RD . Acceptable evidence: science and values in risk management.Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1991.
19.
19 Mayo DG Spanos A . Severe testing as a basic concept in a neyman-pearson philosophy of induction. Br J Philos Sci2006; 57: 323–357.
20.
20 Waalkes MP Rehem S Riggs CW Bare RM Devor DE Poirier LA . Cadmium carcinogenesis in male wistar (Crl. (WI) BR) rats: dose-response analysis of tumor induction in the prostate and testes and at the injection site. Cancer Res1988; 48: 4656–4663.
