The concept of radioactivity in a nation of the uninformed sends chills down the spines. The working paradigm is that radiation = cancer = death, end of story.
That radioactivity is an integral part of our universe, and for billions of years has permeated our land, sea, and air is unknown to those out side of science class. An integral part of our environment it makes one wonder when the environmentalists will learn anything about the environment.
A recent update of the Chart of the Nuclides indicates there are more than 3000 known radioactive types of atoms, only 250 or so are not radioactive.
Radioactivity and radiation is widely deployed in medicine, science, and industry to the benefit of all. The benefits of radioactivity are too rarely mentioned for sure, but you know that fear thing.
For too many it seems better to remain uninformed than to be curious about the world around us. For many that old bugaboo cognitive dissonance, takes over. How can it be that radioactivity can be both “deadly” and beneficial? How can we live on a planet which has been radioactive for billions of years? The answer lays in the first law of toxicology that “The Dose Makes to Poison.’
A second law of toxicology would be that: high doses of many things can cause health problems including death. High doses of water have caused death and I don