Radiophobia
Radiophobia is a fear of
Early use
The term was used in a paper entitled "Radio-phobia and radio-mania" presented by Dr Albert Soiland of Los Angeles in 1903.[3] In the 1920s, the term was used to describe people who were afraid of radio broadcasting and receiving technology.[4][5] In 1931, radiophobia was referred to in The Salt Lake Tribune as a "fear of loudspeakers",[6] an affliction that Joan Crawford was reported as suffering.[7] The term "radiophobia" was also printed in Australian newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s, assuming a similar meaning.[8] The 1949 poem by Margarent Mercia Baker entitled "Radiophobia" laments the intrusion of advertising into radio broadcasts.[9] The term remained in use with its original association with radios and radio broadcasting during the 1940s[10] and 1950s.[11]
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Science Service associated the term with fear of gamma radiation and the medical use of x-rays.[12][13] A Science Service article published in several American newspapers proposed that "radiophobia" could be attributed to the publication of information regarding the "genetic hazards" of exposure to ionising radiation by the National Academy of Sciences in 1956.[14]
In a newspaper column published in 1970, Dr Harold Pettit MD wrote:
"A healthy respect for the hazards of radiation is desirable. When atomic testing began in the early 1950s, these hazards were grossly exaggerated, producing a new psychological disorder which has been called "radiophobia" or "nuclear neurosis".[15]
Castle Bravo and its influence on public perception
On March 1, 1954, the operation
This incident, due to the era of secrecy around nuclear weapons, created widespread fear of uncontrolled and unpredictable nuclear weapons, and also of radioactively contaminated fish affecting the Japanese food supply. With the publication of
The surviving crew members, and their family, would later experience prejudice and discrimination, as local people thought that radiation was contagious.[19]
In popular culture
The Castle Bravo test and the new fears of radioactive fallout inspired a new direction in art and cinema. The Godzilla films, beginning with Ishirō Honda's landmark 1954 film Gojira, are strong metaphors for post-war radiophobia. The opening scene of Gojira echoes the story of the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, from the initial distant flash of light to survivors being found with radiation burns. Although he found the special effects unconvincing, Roger Ebert stated that the film was "an important one" and "properly decoded, was the Fahrenheit 9/11 of its time."[22]
A year after the Castle Bravo test,
Nevil Shute's 1957 novel On the Beach depicts a future just six years later, based on the premise that a nuclear war has released so much radioactive fallout that all life in the Northern Hemisphere has been killed. The novel is set in Australia, which, along with the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, awaits a similar and inevitable fate. Helen Caldicott describes reading the novel in adolescence as 'a formative event' in her becoming part of the anti-nuclear movement.[23]
Radiophobia and Chernobyl
In the former
The term "radiation phobia syndrome" was introduced in 1987[27] by L. A. Ilyin and O. A. Pavlovsky in their report "Radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union and measures taken to mitigate their impact".[28]
The author of Chernobyl Poems Lyubov Sirota[29] wrote in her poem "Radiophobia":
Is this only—a fear of radiation?
Perhaps rather—a fear of wars?
Perhaps—the dread of betrayal,
Cowardice, stupidity, lawlessness?
The term has been criticized by Adolph Kharash, Science Director at the Moscow State University:
It treats the normal impulse to self-protection, natural to everything living, your moral suffering, your anguish and your concern about the fate of your children, relatives and friends, and your own physical suffering and sickness as a result of delirium, of pathological perversion.[30]
However, the psychological phobia of radiation in sufferers may not coincide with an actual life-threatening exposure to an individual or their children. Radiophobia refers only to a display of anxiety disproportionate to the actual quantity of radiation one is exposed to, with, in many cases, radiation exposure values equal to, or not much higher than, what individuals are naturally exposed to every day from background radiation. Anxiety following a response to an actual life-threatening level of exposure to radiation is not considered to be radiophobia, nor misplaced anxiety, but a normal, appropriate response.
Marvin Goldman is an American doctor who provided commentary to newspapers claiming that radiophobia had taken a larger toll than the fallout itself had, and that radiophobia was to blame.[31]
Chernobyl abortions
Following the accident, journalists mistrusted many medical professionals (such as the spokesman from the UK National Radiological Protection Board), and in turn encouraged the public to mistrust them.[32]
Throughout the European continent, in nations where abortion is legal, many requests for induced abortions, of otherwise normal pregnancies, were obtained out of fears of radiation from Chernobyl; including an excess number of abortions of healthy human
As the increase in radiation in Denmark was so low that almost no increased risk of birth defects was expected, the public debate and anxiety among the pregnant women and their husbands "caused" more fetal deaths in Denmark than the accident. This underlines the importance of public debate, the role of the mass media and of the way in which National Health authorities participate in this debate.
In
A "slightly" above the expected number of induced abortions by request occurred in Italy, where, upon initial request, "a week of reflection" followed by a 2 to 3 week "health system" delay usually occur before the procedure.[35][36]
Radiophobia and health effects
"My former colleague, William Clark, has likened the public’s frenzy over small environmental insults to the fear of witches in the later Middle Ages. Some million certified “witches” were executed because they could not prove that they had not caused harm to someone or something. In the same way, since one cannot prove that tiny amounts of radiation did not cause a particular leukemia—for that matter one cannot prove that they caused it either—those who wish to succumb to low-level phobia succumb. As a result nuclear energy […is] under siege. Not until the low–level controversy is resolved can we expect nuclear energy to be fully accepted."
The term "radiophobia" is also sometimes used in the arguments against proponents of the conservative LNT concept (Linear no-threshold response model for ionizing radiation) of radiation security proposed by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) in 1949. The "no-threshold" position effectively assumes, from data extrapolated from the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that even negligible doses of radiation increase one's risk of cancer linearly as the exposure increases from a value of 0 up to high dose rates. The LNT model therefore suggests that radiation exposure from naturally occurring background radiation may be harmful.[38] There is no biological evidence and weak statistical evidence that doses below 100 mSv have any biological effect.[39]
After the
At the same time as part of the public fears radiation, some commercial products are also promoted on the basis of their radioactive content, such as "negative ion" bracelets or radon spas.
Radiophobia and industrial and healthcare use
Radiation, most commonly in the form of X-rays, is used frequently in society in order to produce positive outcomes. The primary uses of radiation in healthcare are in
Similarly, in industrial radiography, there is the possibility of persons experiencing radiophobia when radiophobia sufferers are near industrial radiographic equipment.
See also
- Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
- Atomic Age
- Background radiation
- Backscatter X-ray
- Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
- Dirty bomb
- Electromagnetic radiation and health
- Fear mongering
- Nuclear power debate
References
- ^ Walton, Alice G. "Steve Jobs' Cancer Treatment Regrets". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "The Tribune". 2011-04-17. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "Medicos meet (radiophobia) (1903)". The Los Angeles Times. 1903-06-03. p. 11. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Radio show big success (1926)". The Republic. 1926-10-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Radio fans storm annual convention and show here (1922)". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1922-03-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Have you a phobia? (1931)". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1931-12-13. p. 55. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Little theater is a recording room (radiophobia) (1937)". Portsmouth Daily Times. 1937-07-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Radio manners. For the people who live next door- to the wireless. (1935)". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1935-04-16. p. 31. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "YOU SAID IT... - Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954) - 4 Sep 1949". Trove. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
- ^ "Radiophobia (1947)". The Morning Herald. 1947-10-14. p. 6. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Athletic director has radiophobia (1959)". Southern Illinoisan. 1959-01-01. p. 9. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Many American claimed suffering from radiophobia (1959)". Medford Mail Tribune. 1959-12-17. p. 25. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Unwarranted fear (radiophobia) (1968)". Lebanon Daily News. 1968-02-19. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Unwarranted Fear (radiophobia) (1960)". The Times. 1960-02-22. p. 14. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "X-Rays Demand Respect (1970)". Aiken Standard. 1970-01-01. p. 10. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20090301a2.html [dead link]
- ^ a b Lorna Arnold and Mark Smith. (2006). Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Palgrave Press.
- ^ Keever, Beverly Deepe (February 25, 2004). "Shot in the Dark". Honolulu Weekly. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
The Japanese government and people dubbed it "a second Hiroshima" and it nearly led to severing diplomatic relations.
- ^ a b Keiji Hirano (Feb 29, 2004). "Bikini Atoll H-bomb damaged fisheries, created prejudice". chugoku. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
- ^ Gerard DeGroot, The Bomb: A Life, Random House, 2004.
- ^ On 25 April 1949 the US dollar was pegged to the YEN at $USD 1 = 360 YEN
- ^ Chicago Sun-Times
- ^ "Nuclear radiation 'the greatest public health hazard'". CNN. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Radiophobia hits USSR after Chernobyl (1988)". Tyrone Daily Herald. 1988-02-10. p. 2. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ "Need to alert Chernobyl-area residents of cancer threat debated (1988)". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1988-05-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ^ a b "Studying the Fukushima Aftermath: 'People Are Suffering from Radiophobia'". Der Spiegel. 19 August 2011.
- ^ Bella Belbéoch, RESPONSABILITES OCCIDENTALES DANS LES CONSEQUENCES SANITAIRES DE LA CATASTROPHE DE TCHERNOBYL, EN BIELORUSSIE, UKRAINE ET RUSSIE, in: Radioprotection et Droit nucléaire [eds.: Ivo Rens and, Joël Jakubec, collection SEBES, 1998, pp. 247-261 (English translation: "Western responsibility regarding the health consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe in Belarus, the Ukraine and Russia" Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ L. A. Ilyin and O. A. Pavlovsky,"Radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union and measures taken to mitigate their impact" IAEA Bulletin 4/1987.
- ^ "The Chernobyl Poems of Lyubov Sirota"
- ^ "A Voice from Dead Pripyat" by Adolph Kharash Science Director, Moscow State University Archived 2010-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Chernobyl Aftereffects Mostly Psychological (radiophobia) (1988)". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 1988-12-19. p. 2. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
- ISBN 0-7923-0601-5.
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- ISBN 978-1-56396-358-2.
- ^ Zbigniew Jaworowski, Radiation Risk and Ethics Archived 2005-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, Physics Today, 52(9), September 1999, pp. 24-29
- PMID 27398078.
- ^ Thomas, Geraldine. "Minimising the Health Consequences of Nuclear Accidents – Do We Need to Reassess Our Response?" (PDF).
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
- ^ Freiherr, G. (2010). "We have to calm dose hysteria…RIGHT NOW!". Diagnostic Imaging.
External links
- Stan Grant (20 March 2011). "Facts whisper, fears scream during crisis". CNN. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- Seth Borenstein (24 March 2011). "Americans fear the unknown in nuclear radiation". Deseret News. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- Andrew Revkin (10 March 2012). "Nuclear Risk and Fear, from Hiroshima to Fukushima". New York Times.
- Geoff Brumfiel (16 January 2013). "Fukushima: Fallout of fear". PMID 23325191.
- Gilbert King (14 March 2012). "Clarence Dally — The Man Who Gave Thomas Edison X-Ray Vision". Smithsonian. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- James Rice (February 2022). "Recreancy and the Social Origins of Radiophobia". .