Radiating Fear

Everyday Radiation

Each person around the world receives an average of 240 to 300 millirem per year of radiation from environment (milehigh Denver averages about 400 millirems/year). For contrast, astronauts average a maximum 25,000 millirems/year, and the federal occupational limit for adults is 5,000 millirems/year. Here are some interesting sources of radiation and the levels they emit:

Granite – natural uranium content decays into radon gas. The largest contributor to average radiation dose. However, the amount of uranium in granite is low (10 to 20 parts per million), so this radiation is also very low.

Sleeping next to your spouse – small amounts of bodily potassium-40 deliver beta radiation of about 2 millirem, more than those near Three Mile Island received in the partial meltdown in 1979.

Flying – at an altitude of 30,000-plus feet, the atmospheric protection from radiation from sun and space is thinner; pilots can receive as much as 250 millirem of radiation annually.
Smoke detectors – contain americium-241, which emits both alpha and gamma radiation, but only about 0.01 millirem’s worth.

Watching TV – 2 millirems of annual exposure.

Note: a millirem is a unit of absorbed radiation dose. One millirem equals a 1-in-8 million risk of dying from cancer, which is equivalent to crossing the street three time or taking three puffs of a cigarette.

Information from: NuclearFissionary.com, where you can find more examples of everyday radiation; MIT News, and the EPA. See also: EPA Sources of Radiation Exposure

Continued Tomorrow:

http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2011/03/radiating-fears.aspx

http://www.depsyl.com/

http://back2basicnutrition.com/

http://bionutritionalresearch.olhblogspace.com/