Limited radiation exposure may actually benefit health

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Here's a newspaper article that puts a positive light on radiation.  I 

think I've heard of this guy somewhere before....



--Susan Gawarecki



Limited radiation exposure may actually benefit health

By JOHN CAMERON

Gainesville Sun

April 05. 2004 6:01AM



Studies have shown that radiation from nuclear power can actually be good.



he Three Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear power accident in March 1979 is still 

remembered. Many people still have a fear of things nuclear. The average 

person has never learned that there was no real danger to the public 

during the TMI accident.



The important aspect of the TMI accident was that the safety features 

worked. The reinforced concrete building kept nearly all the 

radioactivity safely inside. The small amount that escaped probably 

improved the health of those who got some of it, as you will learn 

later. The Chernobyl nuclear accident was much worse because it didn't 

have those safety features.



The fear of nuclear radiation is a fear of the unknown. We need to 

educate the public that low-level radiation, such as we all get from 

nature, is beneficial if we get enough of it. There is good evidence 

from government-funded studies that we need more radiation for good health.



It is a shame that most people still believe that even a little 

radiation may cause cancer. The government has not told the public that 

we need more radiation for good health discovered with over $10 million 

of taxpayer's money.



Natural radioactivity in our body hits millions of our cells every 

minute, billions of our cells every day and trillions of cells every 

year. Our cells are also bombarded by more radiation from external 

natural radioactivity in the environment and from cosmic rays.



External radiation can easily be measured with a Geiger counter. When I 

fly, my Geiger counter indicates about ten times more radiation than on 

the ground.



A government study in 1973 showed that people in our mountain states are 

exposed to 300 percent more natural radiation than people in the Gulf 

States. However, the cancer death rate in the Gulf States is 25 percent 

greater. That is, an increase in radiation does not increase the risk of 

cancer.



The average dose from medical x-rays in the United States is much less 

than we get from nature, so you can stop worrying about that also. The 

results of two radiation studies show that we need more radiation for 

good health.



In 1980-1988, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) studied the health of 

28,000 U.S. nuclear shipyard workers who had received the largest 

radiation doses. Their health was compared to 32,500 shipyard workers 

with the same ages and same jobs, but who didn't work on nuclear 

propelled ships. The DOE expected to see an increase in cancer among the 

nuclear workers. Instead they found a 15 percent decrease. The results 

of this important study have yet to be published or told to the public.



The increased radiation apparently stimulated the immune system of the 

nuclear workers. The nuclear workers are living about three years longer 

than the unexposed workers. I know about the nuclear shipyard worker 

study because I was one of eight scientists that supervised the study 

from 1980-1988.



The earliest radiation workers were the doctors who used x-rays. The 

100-year study of British radiologists (British Journal of Radiology 

June 2001) showed that the earliest radiologists (1897-1920) had a 75 

percent increase in cancer compared to other English doctors. There is 

no doubt that large radiation doses caused the increased cancer.



After 1920 British radiologists were more careful and never again had a 

significant excess of cancer compared to other English doctors. That is, 

their radiation dose did not exceed the high level that can cause 

cancer. This is also known from a 1974 study of the radium dial painters.



Recent English radiologists (1955-1979) have less cancer and are living 

over three years longer than other doctors. That is an increase in 

longevity that is greater than would occur if all cancer were curable!



This confirms the increase in longevity of the nuclear shipyard workers. 

The results of these two studies were the basis of my recent article in 

Radiology (October 2003) that increased longevity, not cancer, is the 

best measure of health effects of radiation.



Visit the Virtual Radiation Museum at http://www.sciencemuseum.us to 

learn more about ionizing radiation. I started it a couple years ago and 

it will continue to grow.



John Cameron is a professor emeritus of the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison's departments of Medical Physics, Radiology and 

Physics, and a visiting professor at the University of Florida's 

Department of Radiation Oncology.









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