What type of radiation causes cancer? There are two forms: ultraviolet and ionizing. Tumors are only some of the many dangers and harmful effects of exposure to radiation.
Radiation therapy is the ionizing type which is used to primarily treat tumors. It can lead to secondary cancer.
The Side Effects of Radiation
There are two kinds of radiation that are proven to have harmful side effects to man:
Ultraviolet or UV
What is UV radiation? It comes primarily from the sun and what touches your skin is radiation that is largely composed of UVA with a small UVB component.
It is also an ionizing type of radiation as it causes charging of your cells.
Over exposure to the sun radiation brings about a lot of harmful health side effects such as severe and persistent changes in your skin, eyes and even your immune system. (See Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation)
UV radiation causes cataracts and skin cancer especially the deadliest type known as Melanoma.
What is ionizing radiation? It consists of high energy waves that are able to penetrate your cells and cause charging in the different parts of your cell.
Ionizing radiation is known to be what causes tumors to develop in your lungs, particularly the small cell type.
Small cell lung cancer is one of the side effects of exposure to high and frequent doses of ionizing radiation. It is found to be very common among uranium miners.
It was Marie Curie who discovered radium and ironically, she was believed to have died of leukemia. So did her daughter.
The first cancer case that was caused by radiation was confirmed in 1902 and the first report of leukemia happened among radiation workers in 1911.
