I’d be remiss if I didn’t share what I know about radiation.
Years ago when I worked in Sheboygan, we had a stainless steel foundry. Some of our government business was for castings that had to be defect free. That required we take x-rays of each casting. In order to penetrate the casting, we needed a radio-active isotope. We had to train people on how to handle the radio-active materials and I remember brother Jack went to school regularly in Philadelphia to be trained. All x-rays were taken in a cement encased building and all employees were required to wear badges that measured exposure to gamma rays. All people working with the radio-active materials were required to get annual physical check-ups. It was mandatory.
Radio-active materials are insidious sh–. You don’t know how many times your body is being bombarded by gamma rays. Some exposure is normal. The sun creates radiation exposure. Your friendly dentist exposes you to radiation with x-rays (they always say it is such a small amount, you have nothing to worry about). As a kid, I would buy shoes at the local Red Goose store and they would put my feet in an x-ray machine to see how much room my feet had. The radiation exposure was huge and they stopped the practice. The x-ray exposure I got from Red Goose stays with me to this day because it is cumulative.
In theory, you are allowed a maximum amount of exposure before your body begins to do funny things. The effects are not known for days, months and years. Heavy exposure to radiation mutates your DNA, meaning, that you will have trouble fighting off certain diseases. If you get DNA damage at a young age, your children will potentially get the mutation.
Many cancer treatments require chemotherapy along with radiation treatment. Once you get the maximum radiation doses that your body can handle, all radiation is usually stopped. That means if the cancer goes into remission and then re-occurs, you probably can never have new radiation treatments. Each person tolerates radiation differently.
I’ve heard claims lately that during the nuclear disaster in the early 80’s at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Philadelphia, “not one single person died”. Bullsh–. Nobody fell dead on the spot, but exposure to radiation affected millions of lives in different ways. Some of it didn’t show up for 5, 10 or 20 years, but the incidence of cancer in people who lived downwind from the damaged plant is much higher than “normal”. The problem is that with radiation exposure, it is hard to prove the nuclear power calamity is the direct cause.
I know this. Stay away from as much radiation exposure as you can. Limit your time of exposure. Be aware that when dentists take x-rays and doctors examine your body parts with x-rays, it comes at a price.
The nuclear meltdown that is occuring in Japan is more dangerous than the Tsunami. It will affect more people now and for years to come. Land around Chernobyl in Russia will be radioactive for thousands of years as a result of their meltdown.
The maximum exposure you are allowed is “your age multipled times 1000 and expressed in millirems. I am 70 years old. My max allowance is 70,000 millirems. I don’t know what the hell a millirem is. I also don’t know how much exposure I’ve had over the years because there is no body measurement procedure.
The lesson, Grasshoppers, is minimize your exposure to radiation. Period! It is bad sh–.
Love,
Dad