In the eyes of many people, radiation is almost equivalent to "cancer". Nuclear tragedies such as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, and the leak at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union have long been a source of fear. However, according to the British "Financial Times" reported on June 23, the United States senior nutritionist, who served as "Apollo" moon landing program astronauts, the chief nutritional adviser, Don Luckie, said that a small amount of radiation can play a positive role in enhancing human immunity and prolonging life. Luckie's "shocking" although caused a heated debate, but the U.S. scientific community in the relevant research in a variety of conclusions have repeatedly confirmed his words.
Half a century ago, the United States of America nuclear explosion of the island revived
March 1, 1954, the United States of America in the Marshall Islands, Bikini Island test explosion of a power for the Japanese Hiroshima atomic bomb 1000 times the hydrogen bomb. In the 13 years from 1945 to 1958, the U.S. conducted 66 atomic and hydrogen bomb tests in the CNMI General***, resulting in 530 people suffering from cancer, with more than half of the cancers going undiagnosed at the time. Fear of nuclear radiation made Bikini a deserted island. No one could have imagined that half a century later it would be alive and well.
■Dozens of species are alive and well
In the late 1960s, more than 100 people returned to Bikini Island, longing for their homes. The islanders were forced to evacuate in 1978 because of severe nuclear contamination of their food and inhalation of cesium, a radioactive substance. At that time, Bikini Island was still a place unfit for human existence. Since then, people have been alarmed at the mere mention of radiation.
Not long ago, a group of scientists from Italy, Hawaii, Australia, and the Marshall Islands came to Bikini. The devastation of the blast was long gone, and dozens of species that had migrated from Rongelap Atoll were living healthily under the sea.
"I've never found corals growing like trees like this anywhere outside the Marshall Islands." Australian biologist Zay Richards marveled. Unlike the corals of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which are dying due to a warming climate, the corals here are growing like trees.
■ Fish and shrimp are safe to eat
The 55,000-degree Celsius heat of the 1954 nuclear explosion left a crater 180 meters across and about 72 meters deep in Bikini Atoll, killing all the coral. But in 54 years, a coral jungle with branches 7 meters high and 30 centimeters in diameter has grown back. In the blue-green water, schools of fish of all kinds move happily in pairs, and mollusks with transparent bodies appear and disappear among the colorful coral, and everything is thriving. If it weren't for the clearly recognizable craters and shipwrecks in the surrounding waters, no one would have thought that this was once an important U.S. nuclear test site. Fish and shrimp caught near Bikini Reef have been tested and found to be safe to eat.
Not coincidentally, in Ukraine, more than 10,000 kilometers from Bikini, more than 20 years after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union (April 26, 1986), the radiation-contaminated area within 30 kilometers of the site of the nuclear accident is also teeming with wildlife and life. Here, too, there is no sign of the devastation that nuclear radiation is supposed to bring.
Living in Chernobyl is far healthier than living on the polluted streets of central London. Studies have found that air pollution reduces life expectancy in Britain by eight months and kills about 24,000 people a year. Jim Smith, an expert in ecology and hydrology, said: "The biggest impact of Chernobyl was on people's mental health. Because of the nuclear leak, local residents were forced to move to other places to live, and they spent their days worrying about potential health problems.
Radon hot springs China is cold, Japan is very popular
Almost from the birth of the universe that day since the nuclear radiation has always existed, and in the life of the nuclear radiation is also prevalent in all substances, including water and air. It's not just hospital equipment such as fluoroscopes, CT scanners and radiotherapy that are radioactive, but radiation is also present in all parts of our lives. From gemstones such as diamonds, emeralds and onyx, to granite and sandstone used in construction, to fossils and even pebbles, which are eagerly collected by people, all contain varying degrees of radioactivity. Billions of years can not avoid the nuclear radiation, under certain conditions, there are high or high radioactivity, will cause harm to the human body, so that people have a deep fear of "nuclear".
■Fear of cancer, the Chinese people away from radon hot springs
And some nuclear radiation people simply do not notice. 2006, in Zhejiang, Guangdong, some cities to soak "belonging to the medical value of the geothermal water" - radon hot springs is very popular. By the end of 2006, the public knew about the radon hot springs. By the end of 2006, the public learned that radon is the only natural radioactive noble gas produced by the decay of radium. At room temperature, radon and its daughters can form radioactive aerosols in the air and pollute the air, which can easily be intercepted by the human respiratory system and accumulate in localized areas to induce lung cancer. However, the concentration of radon gas is usually not high enough to pose obvious harm to people. However, this colorless and tasteless radioactive gas has immediately become a source of fear, and people who talk about "nuclear" have started to stay away from radon hot springs.
■ Japanese people use radon hot springs to cure neuralgia and skin diseases
In fact, if the "bottom" is well ventilated, radon hot springs are harmless to the human body, the former Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Trace Elements Mineral Springs, deputy director of the analysis and testing room Xian Hanlong, said: "Radon has two sides, it may cause lung cancer, but also can treat skin diseases. lung cancer, it can also treat skin diseases (such as age spots), anti-aging and help weight loss." Japan is known as an "island nation of hot springs", and among the more than 2,600 hot springs dotted throughout the country, radon hot springs in the Misasa region are extremely popular - the cancer mortality rate in the region is 50% of the average cancer mortality rate in Japan. 1937, the medical school of Okayama University discovered that the soil in the area was soaked with radon due to the fact that the soil was soaked with radon. In 1937, the Medical School of Okayama University in Japan discovered that the body's own natural healing power and immunity activation was stimulated by the trace radiation of radon in the local soil, rocks, and water, stimulating the body's latent life force. Not only can it treat diseases such as nerve pain, skin diseases and rheumatism, but also effectively prevent diseases related to peroxidation and immunosuppression.
Expert Findings
The Dangers of Radiation to Human Health Are Grossly Exaggerated
"When people hear radiation, they associate it with atomic bombs and the loss of thousands of lives. They think the Chernobyl reactor accident was like the atomic bombing in Japan, which is absolutely wrong." said Mike Repagioli of the World Health Organization's Radiation Research Program. Around the world, many scientists now believe that the risks to human health from radiation are grossly exaggerated. Studies have found that the annual mortality rate for people exposed to 1 millisievert unit of nuclear radiation is 5 per 100,000 people. The same death rate can be attributed to such behaviours as smoking 70 cigarettes, which causes malignant tumours and heart disease, working in a coal mine for 50 hours, which causes black lung disease, eating 2,000 tablespoons of peanut oil, which causes liver cancer, and even accidents that can occur when travelling for 300 minutes in a light boat, 500 miles on a bicycle, or 7,500 miles in a car. In fact, low levels of radiation are far less harmful than commonly believed - and may even be beneficial.
■ Can trace amounts of nuclear radiation lead to a life expectancy of 90 years?
A little sunshine, a little wine, and a little "boost" from a tiny amount of nuclear radiation can reverse aging. Research has found that exposure to a certain dose of poison can stimulate the body's cellular self-repair mechanism. When the intensity of the body's response in this area exceeds the actual need for repair, the body's cells become stronger than before. Scientists optimistically predicted that the "toxic excitation effect" can extend the average life expectancy of humans to 90 years.
The low-dose excitatory effect of toxins refers to the phenomenon that when exposed to a chemical, low concentrations have a favorable effect on the body, while high concentrations have a negative effect. The specific effects of the low-dose excitatory effect on the body are reflected in the promotion of growth and development, weight gain, life extension, enhancement of the body's defenses and stimulation of damage repair. For a long time, however, the scientific community has considered any dose of nuclear radiation to be harmful to health. Only when the dose of nuclear radiation is zero, it will not cause damage to living organisms.
■Scientists have not given a clear definition of "trace amount"
Following the Japanese radon spa study, in the 1980s, Dr. Bernard of the University of Pittsburgh in the United States compared the incidence of lung cancer in 272,000 families in Pennsylvania with different radon levels, and found that residents of areas with high levels of radon in the living environment had a higher incidence of lung cancer. Dr. Bernard of the University of Pittsburgh compared the incidence rate of lung cancer among 272,000 families with different radon levels in Pennsylvania, and found that the incidence rate of lung cancer among residents of certain living environments with high radon levels was lower than the average level of the whole state of Pennsylvania. In recent years, more studies have shown that small doses of radiation can bring benefits to the human body. In the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission launched in 1971 to examine the effects of low-dose nuclear radiation on the health of living organisms in the program, commissioned by Dr. Norman on the U.S. states in the natural environment of the nuclear radiation dose measurement, found that the radiation dose of those states with a high incidence of cancer is significantly lower than the dose of radiation in the state of the low state.
There are many more examples of how small amounts of radiation can have a positive impact on human health, but scientists have yet to define "small amounts": the line between stimulating cellular self-repair mechanisms and harming the human body has yet to be drawn.
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■ Nuclear radiation in daily life
Cosmic rays: mainly charged ion streams with high energy. The dose of cosmic rays received by people increases as the altitude rises. Therefore, it is recommended to reduce the number of trips to the highlands and polar regions.
Water: Deep underground radon has a high content and can be drunk directly after boiling. But heating this water will increase indoor radon several times, so ventilation should be used in kitchen and bathroom.
Food: The main radioactive substances in food are potassium-40 and carbon-14, which are not only found in vegetables, seaweed, meat and milk, but also in rice. These radioisotopes are ingested into the body as people eat them.
Building materials: foundations and building materialsRock and soil in uranium mines and nearby areas generally contain radon. In these areas, radon underneath foundations is the main source of indoor nuclear radiation in buildings below three stories. In high-rise buildings above three storeys, radon contained in building materials is the main source of indoor nuclear radiation. Therefore, do not build residential housing in uranium mines and nearby areas, and pay attention to their radioactivity indicators when selecting building materials.
Natural gas and coal: Untreated natural gas and coal contain radon, and attention should be paid to ventilation when using natural gas and coal as fuel.
Medical equipments: Medical equipments such as fluoroscopy, photography, CT and radiotherapy can cause some radioactive damage to human body.
Gemstones: Gemstones can be categorized as precious diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and cat's eyes, as well as common gemstones such as crystals, onyx and garnets. This type of gemstone has been tested and has not been found to be highly radioactive. Crystals, for example, are quartz crystals with very low radioactivity, and agates are not highly radioactive.