ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the vast amount of epidemiological and demographic studies that support this characteristic of low-level radiation and its positive effects on humans. Public understanding of this hitherto seldom recognized characteristic of radiation is crucial to the public having a more rational attitude toward nuclear energy utilization. Contrary to conventional understanding of radiation by the public, low levels of nuclear radiation are not harmful to animals or humans but are actually beneficial to health. When the discipline of “health physics” developed in the 1950 decade, these rules were formalized into a statistical theory, known as the “Linear No-Threshold” hypothesis. The ordinate axis indicates nominal negative effects of radiation, such as the induction of leukemia or solid cancers, the death rates from cancer, or the overall negative effect on health or longevity as a function of the amounts of radiation shown on the abscissa.
