Week 12- Biochemistry

The discussion about the industry shills posing as human beings got me pretty upset. I have seen first hand the effects of what radiation can do to the human body. I knew a man who had worked as an engineer at a nuclear plant, and the exposure to background radiation destroyed his kidneys, and he needed a transplant. Like all transplant patients he was on immunosuppressants, which made him more vulnerable to infections, and eventually he died. He told me he had no regrets, that his job gave him a good standard of living, and excellent health care coverage, even after he became disabled. He never had kids. It makes me sad that he died so young. I work in an environment where portable chest xrays are being performed constantly. I send people for CT scans and to the nuclear medicine department for studies all the time. People who work in those departments wear dosimeter badges that monitor their exposure levels, but those of us who work adjacent don't, even though we are also exposed to the same radiation that they are. I think its pretty obvious that I'm against anything that might allow employers to further relax standards that govern how much radiation people are exposed to.