The effect of host medium on the half-life of 7Be

We discuss recent results of E.B. Norman et al. [Phys. Lett. B 519 (2001) 15] in relation to our earlier work [A. Ray et al., Phys. Lett. B 455 (1999) 69] and point out that the apparent disagreement between the two sets of experimental results is most likely due to the choice of different reference samples with which the comparisons have been done. In addition, the irradiation by heavy ion beam might also damage the lattice structure of the medium and such effect was not included in our calculations. We think that our earlier conclusion regarding the downward revision of predicted 8B solar neutrino flux by ≈2% should stand.