Just about everything gives off radiation, even people. Radiation comes from sun, and from rocks; it comes from nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants, as well as X-ray machines, CT Scanners, smoke detectors and a whole bunch of other things. Exposure to too much radiation can damage certain types of cells in our bodies. What's more, the effects of radiation exposure can be cumulative- the more exposure you receive, the more likely the possibility of developing health problems.

X-rays have been used by doctors for many years. They allow medical professionals to see things in our body with a degree of certainty that they would otherwise only guess at. Millions of lives have been saved or improved by the use of radiation in medicine; from destroying cancerous tumors, diagnosing hidden aneurisms, identifying broken bones and improving the quality of your visits to the dentist.

For a long time, our only data on how harmful radiation is came from the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese cities that were leveled at the end of World War II by two American nuclear devices. It's only been in the last few years that researchers have had more data to work with, and consequently, have developed more accurate models of just how damaging radiation can be.

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This means that we'd better start keeping track of our own radiation exposure. It means that when you're directed by your physician to get a scan, be sure to mention how many other scans you've already received, and ask if this is one is really necessary. Weigh the risks and act accordingly.

Over a period of time, a person could be exposed to a considerable amount of radiation. Recently, the Institute for Environmental Health Sciences included x-radiation and gamma radiation to its list of known carcinogens, because "human studies have shown that radiation causes many types of cancer including leukemia, cancer of the thyroid, breast and lung."

So while you should follow your doctor's advice to get scanned when he/she deems it prudent, you may also want to forgo that so-called preventive CT scan because there is a very real possibility that over time, you will increase your chances of developing cancer - one of the very outcomes you were trying to avoid in the first place.
About the Author

Gary Bryant, a consumer health advocate, is the executive producer of the award winning web resource, BreakThroughDigest.com. He is also the author of Searching The Web for Health, A Guide to Reliable Medical Informat