Radiation 343
Radiation sickness
Radiation can cause cancer of the lungs, thyroid, and blood, as well as diseases
that affect the bones, muscles, nervous system, stomach, and digestive system.
Most exposure to harmful radiation occurs in small amounts over a long
time, causing health problems to develop slowly. Uranium miners, for example,
may work for many years with no signs of illness. Years later, they can develop
lung cancer and other illnesses related to their work with radioactive materials
(see page 473).
Soldiers who handle radioactive missile shells (depleted uranium shells) and
people in war zones where the shells are left among the rubble of destruction
are also developing radiation sickness.
Nuclear accidents or explosions can cause death right away or within
several weeks. People who survive 6 weeks after an explosion may recover for a
while, but serious illness can return years later.
Radiation can pass to nursing infants through breast milk. Radiation
sickness cannot be passed from person to person, but the damage it causes
can pass down from parents to children and grandchildren, as birth defects,
cancers, and other health problems.
Signs
Early signs of radiation sickness include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and
fatigue. These signs may be followed by:
• hair loss
• burning feeling in the body
• shortness of breath
• swelling of the mouth and throat
• worsening of tooth or
gum disease
• dry cough
• pain in the heart
• rapid heartbeat
• permanent skin darkening
• bleeding spots under the skin
• pale or transparent skin, gums,
and fingernails (anemia)
• death
Grandmother
did not know
what radiation
was until it killed
Grandfather.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012