RadioActivity

Everybody knows carelessness can be parasitical, but radioactivity has amplified that saying. When radioactivity was discovered about a hundred years ago, it was said to be extremely beneficial yet dangerous to our planet because the benefits and risks of radioactivity depended on the dosage of radiation used. Radiation has to be used very carefully since one tiny mistake can cause deaths and diseases. If the dosage has a slight exposure, it could create a nuclear bomb or many types of illnesses—The Chernobyl accident, radiation therapy, and food irradiation are prime examples of the destruction caused by radioactivity. Radioactivity should not be used because it is harmful and because perfection is needed for it to be useful; the cost of innocent lives is not worth the risk for using it.

Since the world's natural resources are being consumed at an alarming rate, radioactivity is used to fuel nuclear power plants that create heat and energy. However, the use of nuclear radiation requires strict safety precautions and careful operation and maintenance. If those rules are not abided seriously, nuclear afflictions could happen such as The Chernobyl Accident in 1986 where about thirty people died and forty thousand people from Ukraine, Belarus, and different parts of Eastern Europe were evacuated or hospitalized. Because of the personnel's careless safety precautions, a nuclear reactor exploded shooting radioactive waste into the atmosphere. It is really not the personnel’s fault for the explosion because it was an accident, and no one is perfect. However, a problem at a nuclear power plant has the potential to be much more hazardous than an accident at a coal or gas plant because of the radiation that could be accidentally released. Obviously, nuclear power plants are not as safe in producing heat energy as burning coal and using gas or oil.

Research says that radioactive materials are used beneficially in medicine (e.g. X-rays), but radiation therapy is two timing that groundwork. Though it fights different cancers, it is also a major cause of cancer. Radiation can destroy cancerous cells, but a little high dosage could also destroy the good cells that are helpful to the body. The loss of good cells cause side effects like infections, appetite loss, hair loss, skin change, and fatigue. Moreover, radiation cell’s penetrating nature, and its ability to ionize atoms or molecules inside the body may lead to damage of cells' DNA. As a result, cells can behave incorrectly leading to the development of cancer. For example, Prime time found a story on a woman who was almost killed because the radiation level was accidentally too high during her therapy sessions. Apparently, radioactivity isn’t that advantageous for the medical field—contrary to popular belief!

Food irradiation is another way that can use radioactivity harmfully; it is a form of preservation that kills the bacteria and sterilizes the food. It can also keep harmful pests and insects away from food, which traditional preservation of canning with oil, salt, and vinegar is not able to do. Of course, like everything else that uses radiation, this process also requires carefulness. Eating regular food is safer and healthier than irradiated food because high levels of radiation can cause food-borne illnesses, food poisoning, and a decreasing of vitamin percentages according to MSN Encarta. Because of these research results, only a limited amount of irradiated food has been sold in the United States. So if you aren’t able to read the labels of the preserved foods you buy, don’t buy them anymore since they could be irradiated—and, besides, meals made from scratch taste better too!

Seeing the negative effects associated with the uses of radiation in the production of energy, medicine, and preserving food, radioactivity is clearly not as helpful as the founders intended it to be. The world’s greatest scientists or technicians are not perfect; they could make a mistake and because of that demanding carefulness, radioactivity is disastrous. Their small mistakes can result into a big catastrophe losing innocent lives. Yes, doing things the regular way is safer than using radiation.