First of all, excessive exposure to X-rays is definitely harmful to the body, but most of the time when we go to the hospital and need X-rays, we suspect that there are diseases in the internal organs, and then the doctor will recommend you to take a film. Here is a question of weighing. For example, if you suspect that you have a tumor in your stomach, there are only two ways to confirm or disprove this conjecture in current medicine.
Use radiography technology (such as X-ray) to detect, or put you under anesthesia and open your stomach for a look. Obviously, we all believe that opening your stomach to see is far more harmful to your body than going to make a film, right? Moreover, there are almost no cases of serious consequences caused by making a film, and even the simplest appendicitis procedure may fail. How to weigh this, I believe that every normal person can figure it out. This does not mean that X-rays have no effect on the body. However, this effect is minimal compared to other inspection methods or the risk of not diagnosing the disease. Too much.
Then why can’t pregnant women receive X-ray examinations? In fact, it is mainly because of the fetus. We know that the development of the fetus in the mother’s body is very fast, and the fertilized egg divides rapidly. In this process, the body continuously copies the genetic material, DNA, to assemble various human organs. X-rays do damage to DNA to a certain extent. When the fetus is not yet formed and developing, the damage to DNA will be fatal. Why humans will not give birth to a monkey is because the genetic material DNA is different. Any small errors in DNA at the fetal stage may cause serious malformations.
Therefore, X-ray exposure of pregnant women is very risky to the fetus. Therefore, doctors recommend that pregnant women avoid X-rays and use ultrasound detection technology instead. This is similar to the importance of construction drawings when building a house; even a small ink drop can cover a critical number and cause the house to collapse. However, once the house is built (after infancy), the importance of the construction drawings diminishes. In fact, we humans have a piece of DNA in every cell, so after we grow up and take shape, a small amount of DNA damage will not have serious consequences.
Finally, let’s talk about the X-ray inspection of the subway. If the X-ray inspection of the subway requires people to stand in front of the X-ray machine and perform X-ray inspection on the human body, then the harm is certain. But in fact, the X-ray inspection of subway security is not to check the human body, but to check the luggage you carry with you. The machine that sends the luggage through the conveyor belt is the X-ray inspector. I don’t think anyone would run into that machine on the conveyor belt to find out. It’s just that your luggage has been X-rayed, but you haven’t been X-rayed. What’s so terrible?
Of course, someone will say that this X-ray inspection machine will not leak X-rays? In fact, there is no need to worry too much about this, because people have thoroughly studied the principles and characteristics of X-rays. This machine includes various shielding measures to prevent X-rays from escaping, which is why luggage is sent in by conveyor belts instead of being manually handled. A curtain at the machine’s entrance and exit helps shield against X-ray exposure. When used correctly, the amount of X-ray radiation received is very small. Just like the microwave is harmful to the human body, but the correct use of the microwave has almost zero health impact.
You don’t have to be nervous as soon as you hear radiation. In fact, we receive all kinds of radiation when we are bathed in sunlight every day, including X-rays, ultraviolet rays, microwaves, and various rays. Even if there is no artificial radiation, we are receiving all kinds of natural radiation every day. Radiation is not terrible, and it is harmless to the human body under a certain dose.
Hospital X-rays
- Chest X-ray: Typically around 0.1 millisieverts (mSv).
- Dental X-ray: Approximately 0.005 mSv.
- Abdominal X-ray: Around 0.7 mSv.
- CT Scan: Varies, but can range from 1 mSv (head CT) to 10 mSv (abdomen/pelvis CT).
Airport & Subway X-ray Baggage Scanners
- X-ray Baggage Scanners: The radiation dose emitted is extremely low, typically less than 0.1 microsieverts (μSv) per scan.
This dose is far lower than what one would receive from a medical X-ray. Negligible for humans, as the scanners are designed to shield and contain the radiation, preventing significant exposure. The doses are so low that they do not pose a measurable risk to passengers or operators. Overall, hospital X-rays involve controlled and minimal radiation for diagnostic purposes, while the radiation from subway X-ray baggage scanners is negligible and poses no significant harm to the human body.