Radiation Health Effects

Photo by Lukáš Lehotský on Unsplash

Diagram of the human body with labels for organs such as lungs, thyroid, skin, liver, spleen, kidneys, ovaries, bone, and muscle, with information about radiation effects on human tissues and organs, including sources and safety warnings.

Ionizing radiation is the type of radiation that can detach electrons from or ionize other atoms. Humans are exposed to ionizing radiation through x-ray screening for security, medical devices and other consumer and industrial uses, nuclear power sources and waste, some soils and rocks, cosmic rays from space and nuclear detonations.  This diagram shows where different radioactive isotopes will be taken up by the body.   For instance, strontium - 90 acts like calcium and will travel to teeth and bones. Radioactive iodine - 131 will go to the thyroid.   

In sufficient doses, radiation will kill. Smaller doses will cause leukemias and solid tumours, that is, cancer of organs and bones, that are delayed between 5 to 30 years.  Radiation can make genetic mutations which are most terrifying when passed to the next generations.

Graph showing the relationship between years after A-bomb radiation exposure and the number of leukemia and other cancer deaths. Leukemia deaths peak around 10 years and decline, while deaths from other cancers increase over time, surpassing leukemia after about 20 years.