Every now and then I see an article that makes me feel a tad less like Sisyphus rolling his rock up that hill. This one, in the January 20, 2007 issue of Science News, made my day.

“For decades, researchers largely assumed that a poison’s effects increase as the dose rises and diminish as it falls. However, scientists are increasingly documenting unexpected effects—sometimes disproportionately adverse, sometimes beneficial—at extremely low doses of radiation and toxic chemicals.”

For too many decades, the mantra of toxicologists, especially from within certain industries, has been that “the dose makes the poison.”

Indeed, it does not.

The peer-reviewed research on low-dose toxicological effects of chemicals has finally reached such a critical mass that an unbelieving and often — sadly — closed-minded scientific community has to rethink this erroneous assumption.

We know the truth: the dose does not make the poison. So let’s start afresh, and, instead of assuming we understand how things work, study them and see!

To all the scientists who have fought for this day, and especially for Dr. Warren Porter, a most principled and brilliant friend who has sacrificed much to ensure that the truth is heard: this one’s for you.