The Pros And Cons Of Radiation And Cancer

Now that we know different types of skin cancer, it is important to know the causes for this disease. The first one is the environmental pollutants that we are exposed to such as coal, tar, and radium. Exposure to ionizing radiation such as x-rays also cause skin cancer (“Theoretical Causes”, 2000, P.6).

defense system it can alter a cell's genes to make it become a cancerous cell.

What do cancer, radiation, and technology have in common? The links between the three are quite extraordinary. Cancer is a disease that accounts for 13% of all deaths in the world (Delfino and Day 1). The disease has an impact on patients, friends and their love ones. According to WebMD, radiation is energy that travels in the form of waves through radiation therapy. Through radiation therapy, radiation is used to stop, slow or cure the growth of cancer. With technology, radiologists can treat cancer patients through radiation and special computerized imaging (WebMD).

A common form of cancer that is very popular today is lung cancer. Lung cancer is a very dangerous form that can cause problems in simple body functions. These simple body functions are short breath and general fatigue. Lung cancer is commonly formed from smokers that has been exposed to that activity for numerous years. Lung cancer can also be spread by being exposed to asbestos or other pollutants. This form of cancer has many risk factors to it. These risk factors are high levels of air pollution, arsenic drinking water, and radon gas. Radon gas is a gas that is highly radioactive and is very sensitive to the body. Once radon is exposed to the body, it has a very high respiration rate which initially divide its radioactive cells- causing more significant damage to the body.

The United States tested nuclear bombs, “215 A- and H-bombs” (www.nukewatch.com) above ground between 1951 and 1963 in the Nevada Test Site. Fifty years later, the U.S government studies stated that over 80,000 people who lived or were born in the U.S suffered from cancer caused by radioactive fall-out from nuclear testing. Over 15,000 of them died. Many of whom were from the states close to the testing sites, called the “downwinders,” Utah, Idaho and other states. From the Nevada Test Site the winds carried nuclear radiation fallout, filled with “iodine-131” which caused “75,000 thyroid cancers, ten percent of which are estimated to have been fatal, and strontium-90 and cesium-137, which are dangerous for between 280 and 300 years,” (nukewatch) likely causes of bone and skin cancer and leukemia. Therefore, there is some strong evidence that nuclear fall-out in the 1950s did cause cancer.

Although there have been signs of leukemia, there is still uncertainty if that long hours of radiation exposure has any effect on x-ray techs. (RSNA) Although I first believed that as an x-ray tech I would be diagnosed with cancer or some other disease, I now know that there is only a slight possibility that I will even be diagnosed. Even though getting zapped by some kind of radiation would turn the x-ray tech into a powerful beast would be cool, it is impossible… for now anyways.

It is now known that radium, shown in figure 4, is a potent carcinogen (a substance the cause’s cancer (Wilbraham, Staley, Marta, & Waterman, 2005)). It emits a form of ionizing radiation which “includes electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gamma rays and X-rays) as well as particles (e.g., alpha particles, beta particles, high-speed neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons, etc.)” (National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Acute studies have been done on the effects of radium exposure on the human body by organizations like the Geneva World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Man. As a result of their findings, The National Library of Medicine states that sufficient evidence has been provided showing that prolonged exposure to Raduim-224, Radium-226,

Cancer is a genetic, heritable disease in which abnormal cells divide rapidly destroying normal body cells, often being fatal. Cancer can occur in any body tissue; skin, organs, and parts of the reproductive system (Duda). There are various activities linked to different types of cancer, such as smoking, too much sun exposure, gene mutations, carcinogens, and viruses. A major cause of cancer, dating all the way back to the 1950’s, is radiation. Atomic testing ordered by the U.S. Government has been suspected to be the cause of many deaths linked to radiation-related diseases (Williams 149).

So Artificial ionizing radiation is one of the reasons and it's a type of energy released by atoms that travels in the form of electromagnetic waves or particles. Viruses which are infective agents. Benzene which is a colorless volatile liquid hydrocarbon present in coal tar and petroleum. Hair dyes like when you change the color of your hair. genetic predisposition. some studies researching family history and looking at twins have indicated that some people have a higher risk of developing leukemia because of a single gene or multiple genes. Down syndrome, experts say that people with down syndrome have a higher possibility of getting leukemia. “The last one is Electromagnetic energy, experts can't really prove that this is a cause, but they do say it is a slight

One potential stochastic effect that can occur with ionizing radiation is thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is the 5th most common cancer in women. The diagnosis of thyroid malignancy has increased worldwide in the last few decades and is the most rapidly increasing cancer in the United States with a 5.1% increase from 2003 to 2012. Common symptoms of thyroid cancer are a lump on the neck, a tight feeling in the neck, difficulty breathing or swallowing, hoarseness, and swollen lymph nodes. However in many cases, no symptoms arise and the cancer is diagnosed because an abnormality is seen on an imaging test being performed for another reason2.

Radiation exposure: A man whose chest area has been exposed to radiation (usually for treatment of a cancer inside the chest such as Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) has an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

This kind of exposure is likely from not taking the correct protective measures when being around higher levels of radiation. The effects from chronic exposure can be after you have had and acute exposure as well. This would be where radioactive material has tried to have been fixed. Some longer lasting effects of being exposed to higher levels of radiation is differents types of cancer. Some of the types of cancer consist of leukaemia, bone cancer, thyroid cancer, and lung cancer. Sometimes even genetic effects like some malformations in children born to parents exposed to radiation. Not every child born from parents who have been exposed will have malformations but they have a higher chance. This can also go for animals as

Cancer is most common to be discovered in Chernobyl. There has been a 200% increase in breast cancer, and 100% in leukemia. Thyroid cancer has increased drastically since 1986 to 1990. Thyroid cases has decreased, but only for children. Adult cases has increased from 38 to 308 cases. 70,000 people have cancer just from Chernobyl, and 185,000 have cancer worldwide. You could say cancer is really common here on earth.

Fact: This medical myth has been around for several decades. During the 1940s, scientists conducted a study on fruit flies. The study showed that fruit flies exposed to radiation are more likely to develop cancer. However, recent studies have shown that low levels of radiation do not cause cancer. You are only exposed to a small amount of radiation when you get an x-ray. Anyone who has a radiology degree will tell you that you are exposed to a small amount of radiation every day.

radiation (the kind used in X-rays) is known to cause cancer at high doses, the risks of