The beast unleashed

What is radiation?

Below is an explaination from the Health Physics Society (http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/faqs/whatisradiation.html):

Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels through space and may be able to penetrate various materials. Light, radio, and microwaves are types of radiation that are called nonionizing.

Ionizing radiation is produced by unstable atoms. Unstable atoms differ from stable atoms because unstable atoms have an excess of energy or mass or both. Radiation can also be produced by high-voltage devices (e.g., x-ray machines).

Atoms with unstable nuclei are said to be radioactive. In order to reach stability, these atoms give off, or emit, the excess energy or mass. These emissions are called radiation. The kinds of radiation are electromagnetic (like light) and particulate (i.e., mass given off with the energy of motion). Gamma radiation and x rays are examples of electromagnetic radiation. Gamma radiation originates in the nucleus while x rays come from the electronic part of the atom. Beta and alpha radiation are examples of particulate radiation. 

Interestingly, there is a "background" of natural radiation everywhere in our environment. It comes from space (i.e., cosmic rays) and from naturally occurring radioactive materials contained in the earth and in living things.

The Japanese nuclear plant crisis has inspired fears of health risks for humans exposed to its radioactive energy.  Although Japan is a vast Pacific Ocean away, the radiation coming from its nuclear plant has made its way to the U.S. West and East Coasts. 

The March 16^th article written by Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times posted on the Internet  (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/16/health/la-he-japan-quake-radiation-20110316) addressed my growing concern on the Japanese radiation that has now reached U.S. shores.  Like many people, I’ve always thought that radiation is a very bad thing, that it can have damaging, if not lethal, effect on humans.  My grave anxiety is the eventuality of radiation getting into our water supply and food farms and causing a major crisis.

For those who would like to be educated on radiation and its effects on our health, below is an explanation from Roan’s piece.

Is all radiation harmful?

No. There are two types of radiation: non-ionizing and ionizing. Non-ionizing radiation includes infrared radiation, radio waves, cellphone radiation and the radiation we use to cook food in a microwave. Such radiation does not break chemical bonds. If it is very intense, it can heat up tissues; otherwise, it does not have significant effects. It is not believed to cause cancer.

Ionizing radiation is much more dangerous because it does break chemical bonds and thus does cause cancer. Examples of this kind of radiation include X-rays, gamma rays and the alpha or beta particles emitted by radioactive elements as they decay.

What happens when someone is exposed to ionizing radiation?

That depends on how long you are exposed. The initial symptoms are identical to those suffered by a person undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. The first signs include nausea and fatigue, then vomiting. After that comes hair loss and diarrhea. For radiotherapy for tumors, the exposure generally stops after that point and the symptoms are controlled. But with heavier exposure, the next stage is generally destruction of the intestinal lining and worse diarrhea and dehydration, then central nervous system damage. After that comes loss of consciousness and, inevitably, death.

How does radiation released from nuclear plants compare with a nuclear bomb?

A nuclear explosion produces two types of radiation that have lethal effects. The blast itself produces X-rays and gamma rays that irradiate anyone near the site, usually with a lethal or near-lethal dose of radiation. Most of the 166,000 Japanese who died at Hiroshima in the first four months after the atomic bombing suffered from this type of radiation, which killed them directly or aggravated other injuries suffered in the blast.

I found out from http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/radiation_effects_body.html that people who got exposed to harmful radiation experienced debilitating health and social problems.

The survivors have suffered physically from cataracts, leukemia and other cancers, malformed offspring, and premature aging, and also emotionally, from social discrimination. Within a few months of the nuclear explosions, leukemia began to appear among the survivors at an abnormally high rate. Some leukemia victims were fetuses within their mothers' wombs when exposed to radiation. One child who was born two days after the Hiroshima explosion eventually died of acute leukemia at the age of eighteen. The number of leukemia cases has declined with time, but the incidence of lung cancer, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, and cancers of other organs has increased among the survivors.

Although nuclear experts are doing their best to contain the nuclear plant problem in Japan, it wouldn’t hurt for everyone in the world to say a prayer for the immediate fix of the situation.  People may be living gazillion miles away from that problematic place in Asia, but it’s not a reason to remain unperturbed and indifferent.  We’re all citizens of the world and we should hold each other’s hand.  After all, we’re all in this together.