Editing Radiation (section)

== Possible damage to health and environment from certain types of radiation ==
{{See also|Electromagnetic radiation and health}}

Radiation is not always dangerous, and not all types of radiation are equally dangerous, contrary to several common medical myths.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Most Common Medical Radiation Myths Dispelled |url=https://www.ahu.edu/blog/the-most-common-medical-radiation-myths-dispelled |access-date=2022-11-05 |website=AdventHealth University |date=21 May 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Loughran |first=Sarah |title=Are bananas really 'radioactive'? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation |url=http://theconversation.com/are-bananas-really-radioactive-an-expert-clears-up-common-misunderstandings-about-radiation-193211 |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=The Conversation |date=3 November 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>a. {{Citation |title=The Dose Makes the Poison (1/2) | date=15 October 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKujq-TcJLM |language=en}}
<br />b. {{Citation |title=The Dose Makes the Poison (2/2) | date=22 November 2010 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwXF3zBXEQ4 |language=en}}
</ref> For example, although [[bananas]] contain naturally occurring [[radioactive isotope]]s, particularly [[potassium-40]] (<sup>40</sup>K), which emit ionizing radiation when undergoing radioactive decay, the levels of such radiation are far too low to induce [[radiation poisoning]], and [[Banana equivalent dose|bananas are not a radiation hazard]]. It would not be physically possible to eat enough bananas to cause radiation poisoning, as [[Cumulative dose|the radiation dose from bananas is non-cumulative]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eisenbud|first1=Merril |last2=Gesell|first2=Thomas F. |title=Environmental radioactivity: from natural, industrial, and military sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67Pn4ydLOVAC|year=1997|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-235154-9|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=67Pn4ydLOVAC&pg=PA171 171–172]|quote=It is important to recognize that the potassium content of the body is under strict homeostatic control and is not influenced by variations in environmental levels. For this reason, the dose from {{sup|40}}K in the body is constant.}}</ref><ref name="fgr132">U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (1999), [https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-05/documents/402-r-99-001.pdf Federal Guidance Report 13], page 16: "For example, the ingestion coefficient risk for 40K would not be appropriate for an application to ingestion  of <sup>40</sup>K in conjunction with an elevated intake of natural potassium. This is because the biokinetic model for potassium used in this document represents the relatively slow removal of potassium (biological half-time 30 days) that is estimated to occur for typical intakes of potassium, whereas an elevated intake of potassium would result in excretion of a nearly equal mass of natural potassium, and hence of <sup>40</sup>K, over a short period."</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://boingboing.net/2010/08/27/bananas-are-radioact.html |title=Bananas are radioactive—But they aren't a good way to explain radiation exposure |author=Maggie Koerth-Baker |date=Aug 27, 2010 |author-link=Maggie Koerth-Baker |access-date= 25 May 2011 }}.  Attributes the title statement to Geoff Meggitt, former UK Atomic Energy Authority.</ref> Radiation is ubiquitous on Earth, and humans are adapted to survive at the normal low-to-moderate levels of radiation found on Earth's surface. [[Hormesis|The relationship between dose and toxicity is often non-linear]], and many substances that are toxic at very high doses actually have neutral or positive health effects, or are biologically essential, at moderate or low doses. There is some evidence to suggest that this is true for ionizing radiation: normal levels of ionizing radiation may serve to stimulate and regulate the activity of [[DNA repair|DNA repair mechanisms]]. [[The dose makes the poison|High enough levels]] of any kind of radiation will eventually become lethal, however.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Charles |author-link=Charles L. Sanders |title=Radiation Hormesis and the Linear-No-Threshold Assumption |url=https://archive.org/details/radiationhormesi00sand |url-access=limited |date=2010 |isbn=978-3-642-03719-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/radiationhormesi00sand/page/n56 47]|publisher=Springer |bibcode=2010rhln.book.....S }}</ref><ref>Sutou, S. (2018). [https://genesenvironment.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41021-018-0114-3 Low-dose radiation from A-bombs elongated lifespan and reduced cancer mortality relative to un-irradiated individuals]. Genes and Environment, 40(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41021-018-0114-3</ref><ref name="Trautmann">[http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/trautmann.html Nancy Trautmann: The Dose Makes the Poison--Or Does It?], Bioscience 2005, American Institute of Biological Sciences</ref>

Ionizing radiation in certain conditions can damage living organisms, causing cancer or genetic damage.<ref name="ICNIR2003" />

Non-ionizing radiation in certain conditions also can cause damage to living organisms, such as [[burn]]s. In 2011, the [[International Agency for Research on Cancer]] (IARC) of the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) released a statement adding radio frequency electromagnetic fields (including microwave and millimetre waves) to their list of things which are possibly carcinogenic to humans.<ref name="WHO IARC">{{cite press release |url=http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf|title=IARC Classifies Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields As Possibly Carcinogenic To Humans|date=31 May 2011 |publisher=The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)}}</ref>

RWTH Aachen University's EMF-Portal web site presents one of the biggest database about the effects of [[electromagnetic radiation]]. As of 12 July 2019 it has 28,547 publications and 6,369 summaries of individual scientific studies on the effects of electromagnetic fields.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emf-portal.org/en |title=EMF-Portal |access-date=12 July 2019}}</ref>