Biggest Radiation threat is due to medical scans

June 15th, 2010 - 7:40 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

rad New York, Jun 15 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The biggest radiation threat to the body does not come from cell phones or even the airport scanners. They come from the hospital scanners, which are used for medical tests.

Too much exposure to radiations increases the risk of cancer. Currently, the United States is the number one country that relies heavily on medical scanners. Americans as a result have multiplied the dose of radiations in their bodies compared to a couple of decades back. “We are considering requirements and guidelines for record-keeping of dose and other technical parameters of the imaging exam,” according to Sean Boyd, who is the chief of the FDA’s diagnostic devices branch.

Too many people get scanned in their lives and with each scan, the risk of cancer gets increased. CT scans emit high levels of X ray radiations, which enable high resolution and detailed imaging of patients. However not all scanners use radiations. For example, ultrasound scanners do not emit radiations and the MRI scanners as well.

Radiations are dangerous and its effects are mostly never felt until many years later. The amount of radiations in the body cannot be tracked easily and most often it is known when it is already too late, when the damage is identified. Patients do not know when they are getting too much radiations, which are not good for their general well being.

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