Hello everyone and welcome back to our blog! In this post, we will be continuing the discussion on the effects of radiation on human health. This blog post may be slightly disturbing to some, do be warned! We wanted to illustrate the negative impacts of radiation exposure and why we have to ensure that legislations are designed and enforced effectively so that we will not fall victim to the effects of radiation poisoning. While we are unable to control improbable events (such as the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown), we have to do our best in ensuring that radiation pollution does not occur due to improper controls. Let us begin!
Acute Radiation Syndrome
We will be looking at how a dramatic increase in radiation exposure within a short time frame affects human health. In the case of sudden radiation exposure, the effects are much more detrimental as the spike in radiation exposure leads to Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) (Young, 1987). ARS is equivalent to any type of pollutant quickly accumulating which results in poisoning to our health. In the case of individuals who may have higher resistance to radiation poisoning at a sub-lethal dose, it could only require minimal health interventions. However, this does not mean that they escape unscathed as individuals affected by ARS will still experience nausea, fatigue and abdominal pain (Donnelly et al., 2010).
On the other hand, unlucky individuals may require bone marrow transplants, develop gastrointestinal diseases and even lose consciousness (Donnelly et al., 2010). It is important for healthcare professionals to act quickly to save these patients as the body effectively breaks down from the sudden increase in radiation dose. On even higher doses of radiation, individuals tend to succumb to the effects and pass within days (Donnelly et al., 2010).
Psychological effects of radiation
Next, we will be discussing the importance of mental health in relation to radiation. Much like how fear permeates through the lack of understanding of radiation, the psychosocial effects of radiation pollution tend to be the largest issue related to radiation events.
As noted by WHO (2005), the trauma post-Chernobyl resulted in 350,000 people moving out of affected areas. Yet, 116,000 of those who moved were still susceptible to high levels of exposure to the radioactive pollution. Similarly, the mental effects post-Fukushima illustrated a similar issue. With a spike in depression and suicide rates, affected residents also had to battle the trauma and fear of radioactive contaminations after the disaster (Maeda & Oe, 2017). Both reports pointed to the issue of mental trauma being the greatest issue faced instead of the direct effects of radiation. While Japan mitigated the direct impacts of radiation contamination on its citizens, the lack of mental support has left many of its affected population devastated (Brumfiel, 2013).
“Fire is a good servant but a bad master”
As seen from the proverb in the heading, it is important to understand the effects of radiation on human health. We hope that you have come to better understand the effects of radiation on human health. In our next post, we will be discussing the effects of radiation pollution on our environment. Stay tuned!
Ryan
References
Brumfiel, G. (2013). Fallout of fear: after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan kept people safe from the physical effects of radiation–but not from the psychological impacts. Nature, 493(7432), 290-294.
Donnelly, E. H., Nemhauser, J. B., Smith, J. M., Kazzi, Z. N., Farfán, E. B., Chang, A. S., & Naeem, S. F. (2010). Acute radiation syndrome: assessment and management. Southern medical journal, 103(6), 541-546.
Maeda, M., & Oe, M. (2017). Mental health consequences and social issues after the Fukushima disaster. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 29(2_suppl), 36S-46S.
Seedhouse, E. (2018). Acute Radiation Sickness. In Space Radiation and Astronaut Safety (pp. 77-86): Springer.
WHO. (2005). Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident.
Young, R. W. (1987). Acute radiation syndrome. Military radiobiology, 9, 165-186.