Originally Posted by
djbeers
The NRC limit for annual TEDE dose is 5 Rem. So a flight crew who did nothing but fly the highest dose rate flights would receive 20% of the annual federal limit in the U.S.
There's just a bit of a difference - you know about radiation dose, and small increases in statistical risk of leukemia (assuming a linear no-threshold model which is admittedly the most conservative model because it does not really differentiate between repairable single-strand DNA lesions and non-repairable double-strand lesions). Therefore you can make an informed judgement as part of your voluntary choice of work. I'm not sure that all flight crew A) have any idea of what their radiation dose is, and B) have the knowledge to put it in proper perspective.
Still, I agree that the added statistical risk due to these small doses is very very small - much smaller than the risks of traffic accidents to/from the airport, and enormously smaller than the risks due to smoking, or being overweight.