Dangers of X-Rays

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Dangers of X-Rays

 

 

 

X Rays are not the harmless, miraculous health " helps " we used to

think they were. Instead, X Rays are something many people will want

to avoid unless absolutely necessary.

 

X Rays are not the best diagnostic tool for all things.

 

How much radiation does a person receive in an average dental X Ray?

 

Here's a comparison, measured in millirems;

the standard measure of radiation absorption by human cells:

 

 

IN MILLIREMS

Flight from Los Angeles to Paris (cosmic rays)

4.8 Millirems.

 

Chest X Ray (l film)

22.0 Millirems.

 

Contamination 1/2 mile from Three Mile Island

during nuclear accident

83.0 Millirems.

 

Apollo X astronauts on moon flight (cosmic rays)

480.0 Millirems.

 

Dental X-ray (whole mouth)

910.0 Millirems.

 

On-site dose at Three Mile Island accident

1100.0 Millirems.

 

Breast mammography (1 film)

1500.0 Millirems.

 

Current N.A.S. yearly occupational

exposure accumulative limit is

5000.0 Millirems.

 

It becomes questionable whether each visit to a docter/dentist

should be almost the equivalent of visiting a nuclear power plant

during an " accident, " or if it should " use up " almost one-fifth of

what the N.A.S.

considers a yearly maximum for folks working around radiation.

 

 

 

Danger of X-Ray

by Karl Loren

 

Clarence Dally (1865-1904), assistant to industrialist Thomas Alva

Edison. The first recognized American X ray fatality.

 

Soon after the discovery of X rays in 1895, both men repeatedly

exposed

themselves to x rays in popular demonstrations and investigations of

the exotic new imaging technology. Mr. Dally tested his X ray

equipment on his own hands.

 

X ray " burns " on his hands turned cancerous. The cancer spread

throughout his body and was ultimately fatal despite many efforts to

cut out or otherwise treat the disease.

 

 

 

 

The discovery of x radiation blew everybody's mind; it was totally

unexpected. Thomas Edison jumped right in and tried to exploit this

unprecedented power to see inside solid bodies. He underestimated

his

ignorance, fatally. Of course, no one knew what effects the new rays

could have on the human body. Fortunately for Edison, his blunder

only caused him permanent persistent discomfort.

 

 

His main x-ray technician, Clarence Dally, who worked closely and

consistently with the newly devised apparatii, was not so lucky. As

we know now, you can absorb a large amount of X rays without any

immediately visible signs.

 

If the dose is spread out over a long enough period (say over days

or weeks rather than minutes or seconds) you could

conceivably take enough to kill you without feeling it . Eventually,

like so many other unwitting " pioneers " who spent their lives on the

new and magical X rays, Dally noticed what's euphemistically known

as X ray " burn " . By the time the burns showed up the damage was

already

potentially fatal in the years to come. Dally didn't stop even as

his condition grew worse. He even kept working at the infernal

machine when he knew his hands were cancerous. I won't go into the

gruesome details,

but he wouldn't stop and neither did the cancer.

 

 

 

 

OTHERS' STORIES:

 

RADIOLOGY, THE FIRST YEARS---Paul Goodman:

" The ultimate danger of x-ray exposure was ... dramatically brought

to light by the deaths of many early radiologic pioneers. Clarence

Dally, Edison's chief assistant, was the first U.S. Roentgen ray

fatality. Mr.

Dally's intimate work with various aspects of x-ray tube production

had led to numerous instances of radiation 'burn'. Yet with time off

these

lesions of the face, fingers, and hands would subside and he would

return to the West Orange, New Jersey laboratory. By 1902

the 'burns' were refractory to treatment; ulceration and pain became

worse; skin

grafts failed; and carcinoma was noted at the base of one of the

skin lesions. Subsequent operations included amputations of both

arms, but

mediastinal involvement led to Mr. Dally's death in 1904. Edison was

devastated and halted x-ray investigations at his facilities. "

 

 

The Terrible Power Of The Rays:

 

" It was not until the death of Clarence Dally (1865-1904), Edison's

assistant in the manufacture of X-ray apparatus, and the

documentation

of his struggle with burns, serial amputations, and extensive lymph

node involvement, that medical observers took seriously the notion

that the

rays could prove fatal. Even then it was difficult to believe in a

direct carcinogenic effect from X rays. "

 

 

Figures in Radiation History: Thomas Alva Edison

 

" During the course of these investigations, Clarence Dally, one of

Edison's most dependable assistants, developed a degenerative skin

disorder which progressed into a carcinoma. In 1904, Dally succumbed

to his injuries - the first radiation related death in the United

States. Immediately, Edison halted all his X-ray research

noting 'the X rays had affected poisonously my assistant, Mr.

Dally...' "

 

 

Diagnostic imaging: Finding new ways to see; seeing new ways to cure

VOL 102 / NO 6 / DECEMBER 1997 / POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE

" Edison abandoned the new field of radiology quickly, however, when

he

recognized the risks involved. His assistant, Clarence Dally, began

having health problems shortly after first experimenting with x-

rays.

Eventually Dally lost both arms to malignant ulceration. He died a

painful and horrible death in 1904 and is remembered as the first

martyr

to radiation. Edison was haunted by Dally's death and adamantly

refused to be x-rayed throughout the rest of his 84-year life. "

 

http://www.karlloren.com/ultrasound/p52.htm

 

From Books:

" Mr. Edison's injuries are interesting. His left eye is out of

focus, his digestion is upset, and lumps have formed all through the

region of his stomach. "

 

-Journal of American Medical Association 41(22 August 1903): 499-

500.

Quoted by Lisa Cartwright in Screening the Body: Tracing Medicine's

Visual Culture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota

Press,1995): 109.

 

 

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