hormeses

Noun

hormesis (countable and uncountable, plural hormeses)

1. A phenomenon in which an environmental agent or stressor produces a stimulatory or beneficial effect at low doses and an inhibitory or harmful effect at higher doses, corresponding to a biphasic dose-response relationship.
   • So the concept of a permissible, safe, or “threshold” dose gained currency, and this was used to set standards in industries where workers were exposed to radiation, such as uranium mining and nuclear power generation. Some people went even further, arguing for radiation hormesis—that small doses...2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 5, in Merchants of Doubt