Nuclear Radiation and Healthy


After the big earthquake in Japan, public fears of impending nuclear explosion on Nuclear Power Plant reactor Fukushima, Japan. The fear was probably justified given the effects of radiation on the body can not be taken lightly.

Impact of radiation according to Dr. David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, is not straightforward. "Could weeks and then new symptoms appear," he said.

He mentioned the impact of radiation on the body depends on the radioactive material is released and the duration of exposure. Exposure to high levels can cause acute radiation syndrome, even death. Syndrome will cause symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, hair loss, and diarrhea.

At higher levels, victims who are exposed can die within weeks. "The reason is that scorched colon," he said.

Nuclear radiation will disrupt the ability of cells to divide and produce. The cells in the large intestine is usually a part of the body most rapidly dividing. Similarly, blood-forming cells in bone Sumsung highly susceptible to radiation.

Meanwhile, the population included in the low risk group, nuclear radiation can trigger cancer risk in recent years. However, it also depends on the length of exposure and type of radioactive spent nuclear reactor.

Some types of radioactive material there which is easily absorbed by the body and survive. For example, the iodine that will be directly absorbed by the thyroid gland or strontium which will enter the bone. Other types of radioactive, such as tritium, will be quickly removed the body.

To avoid radiation danger, the Japanese government has given potassium iodine pills that can neutralize the influence of iodine was a way to prevent the thyroid gland to absorb iodine. But according to Brenner, iodine can enter the human body through various ways, ie, air or food exposed to radiation.

"Radioactive iodine should not get into your body directly. Iodine that is in the air can be absorbed into the soil and livestock eat the grass where the land is exposed to radiation. Then humans eat the meat or milk that cow," he said.

He therefore argues idodide potassium pills less effective in preventing thyroid cancer due to nuclear radiation. "The epidemic of thyroid cancer in Chernobyl nuclear casualties could be prevented if the government immediately banned its citizens to drink cow's milk or eat a fruit that grows from the soil exposed to radiation," he said.

Children aged less than 18 years, infants, and fetuses in the womb is the group most at risk of exposure to radiation because the cells in their bodies are still actively dividing.

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