Radiation: Too Much Of A Good Thing

Radiation is wacky We spend half our lives being terrified of
it, and the other half rushing to the hospital to be voluntarily
exposed to it We’re frightened at the thought of dirty nuclear
bombs and concerned about too much exposure to medical
radiation On the second point, your concern may be more
immediate Recently, the National Research Council issued a
press release, of which the very first line read: “A
preponderance of scientific evidence shows that even low doses
of ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays and X-rays, are likely
to pose some risk of adverse health effects” Yet at this very
moment, doctors all over the country are ordering x-rays, CT
scans and PET scans for their patients Radiation indeed seems
to be wacky
Just about everything gives off radiation, even people
Radiation comes from sun, and from rocks; it comes from nuclear
bombs and nuclear power plants, as well as X-ray machines, CT
Scanners, smoke detectors and a whole bunch of other things
Exposure to too much radiation can damage certain types of cells
in our bodies What’s more, the effects of radiation exposure
can be cumulative- the more exposure you receive, the more
likely the possibility of developing health problems
X-rays have been used by doctors for many years They allow
medical professionals to see things in our body with a degree of
certainty that they would otherwise only guess at Millions of
lives have been saved or improved by the use of radiation in
medicine; from destroying cancerous tumors, diagnosing hidden
aneurisms, identifying broken bones and improving the quality of
your visits to the dentist
For a long time, our only data on how harmful radiation is came
from the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese
cities that were leveled at the end of World War II by two
American nuclear devices It’s only been in the last few years
that researchers have had more data to work with, and
consequently, have developed more accurate models of just how
damaging radiation can be
One of the problems that has arisen in recent years is the
over-use of full body CT scans: A type of x-ray that can
literally see inside your entire body in such detail that it can
show trained technicians and doctors tiny tumors, calcium
buildup in the arteries of the heart, and other anomalies This
science provides doctors with a tremendous advantage in
diagnosing patient problems However, it does have its
consequences- one of which is a significant dose of radiation
According to recent research, even a single full body CT scan
can generate as much as 250 times more radiation than a
traditional x-ray
This means that we’d better start keeping track of our own
radiation exposure It means that when you’re directed by your
physician to get a scan, be sure to mention how many other scans
you’ve already received, and ask if this is one is really
necessary Weigh the risks and act accordingly
Over a period of time, a person could be exposed to a
considerable amount of radiation Recently, the Institute for
Environmental Health Sciences included x-radiation and gamma
radiation to its list of known carcinogens, because “human
studies have shown that radiation causes many types of cancer
including leukemia, cancer of the thyroid, breast and lung”
So while you should follow your doctor’s advice to get scanned
when he/she deems it prudent, you may also want to forgo that
so-called preventive CT scan because there is a very real
possibility that over time, you will increase your chances of
developing cancer – one of the very outcomes you were trying to
avoid in the first place

Tags | broken, devices, effects, health, ionizing, japanese, nagasaki, nuclear, plants, result