How Radiation Affects Our Health

How Radiation Affects Our Health: The average person in the U.S. is exposed to about 300 mrem each year from natural background radiation – about 1 mrem a day – and this level of radiation exposure seems to have no ill effects. At higher levels, however, radiation can cause damage; continual exposure to low levels of radiation may cause a mutation that can initiate cancer.  Brief exposure to high levels of radiation can cause skin burns, radiation sickness, or a number of radiation-induced syndromes. http://www.fas.org/blogs/sciencewonk/2013/02/back-to-the-basics-how-radiation-affects-our-health/