Radiation: Real and Imagined Dangers

By Howard Murad, M.D., FAAD

The continuing release of radioactive materials from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan has justifiably caused a great deal of concern around the world.

But what exactly is the nature of the danger posed by radiation?

Radiation is a broad term that covers waves or fields of energy of all sorts. There are the generally harmless forms of radiation that we harness for our everyday use, such as infrared energy, visible light, microwaves, electromagnetic energy fields and radio waves. The forms of radiation that most concern us, in the context of a nuclear event, are the forms that have the potential to pass into or through our bodies.

This type of radiation is known as ionizing radiation, because as it passes through matter it can cause that matter to become electrically charged or “ionized.” It is this ionizing process that can destroy or disturb the DNA of our cells. Destruction of our cells on a scale that exceeds our body’s ability to replace them results in injury—a radiation burn, for instance. Massive or chronic damage to our DNA can result in a mutation—the root of all cancers.

Read the rest of this entry »