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Rajiv Gupta T
Our human environment bathes in
radiation from a variety of sources, both natural and man-made. Every second
of the day, we are being bombarded with some 100,000 cosmic ray neutrons and
400,000 secondary cosmic rays. About 30,000 radioactive atoms disintegrate in
our lungs. Not only this, we are exposed to the radiation of 200 million gama
rays from soil and building materials. Choice of building materials, not
simply the sources, can have an enormous impact on radiation exposure. Living
in a brick or stone house typically results in 20 per cent higher exposure
than living in a wood house. In all, an average human body
receives 60,000 hits of radiation, amounting to a dose of 1,870 micro-sieverts,
or five times less than the radiation of X-rays utilised, until the advent of
sixties, to produce a radiographic picture of bones. Data reveal that fluroscopy, a high
dose x-ray technique for treating TB, has increased the incidence of
breast-cancer in women by 57.3 per cent. Radiation, as a matter of fact, is a modern
affliction. An airline crew, for instance, doubles its exposure to It is a well-known fact that the radiation workers receive as high as even 25 times the natural background radiation during their everyday work. People residing in the vicinity of nuclear Radiation, as a matter of fact, is a modern affliction. An airline crew, for instance, doubles its exposure to cosmic radiation which intensifies with the ascent of the aeroplane. know of the lethal consequences of man-made low-level radiation. "Radiation is potentially harmful, however small the dose", confirms radiation-assessment report of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Studies reveal that low-level radiations are, particularly, pernicious since they stimulate repair mech-anisms which then operate imp-erfectly and allow deranged cells, which would otherwise be destroyed by higher doses of radiation, to survive. Deaths due to radiation among the Hanford nuclear establishment in the United States indicate that, in terms of life expectancy, the cancer rate is some 25 per cent higher among the workers who got the maximum exposure due to long-term low-level radiation. If you still sport some doubts regarding natural background radiation then go through this one. "More than 70 per cent of childhood cancers are caused by natural background radiation", confirms Dr. Alice Stewart - one of the authors of the Hanford Nuclear Study. Satisfied? q The author is the Senior
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