Origin of the linearity no threshold (LNT) dose–response concept

By Edward J. Calabrese
First Published in Arch Toxicol. (2013 Sep;87(9):1621-33)

This paper identifies the origin of the linear- ity at low-dose concept [i.e., linear no threshold (LNT)] for ionizing radiation-induced mutation. After the dis- covery of X-ray-induced mutations, Olson and Lewis (Nature 121(3052):673–674, 1928) proposed that cosmic/ terrestrial radiation-induced mutations provide the prin- cipal mechanism for the induction of heritable traits, pro- viding the driving force for evolution. For this concept to be general, a LNT dose relationship was assumed, with genetic damage proportional to the energy absorbed.