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[Vivi:] Hello.
I'm Vivi Siegel.
I'm a risk communication specialist with the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
I'm here with Armin Ansari, a health physicist with CDC,
and today we'll be discussing communication challenges unique
to radiation emergencies.
We'll start with an overview of radiation terms
and then explore some common myths of radiation.
Armin, thanks for joining me.
[Armin:] It's my pleasure.
[Vivi:] I want to take a minute
to frame today's discussion for our audience.
While we will be hitting on some technical subject matter,
this training won't serve as a radiation basics course.
What we will be doing is identifying some common
radiation myths and providing information
that communicators can use to counteract these myths.
By the end of this video, our viewers will be able to:
identify common misconceptions of radiation,
recognize communication challenges unique
to radiation emergencies,
and describe appropriate communication strategies
to counteract misconceptions of radiation.
Finally, I want to encourage our viewers
to explore the CDC Radiation Emergencies website.
We have numerous communication resources,
educational materials, and training products available.
Okay, enough housekeeping.
Armin, can you provide a quick overview
of the radiation terms we need to know for this discussion?
[Armin:] Sure.
For this discussion, what we are really talking
about is ionizing radiation, which is energy
that is given off by radioactive materials.
Ionizing radiation has a lot of energy;
much more than the low energy radiation from radio waves,
cell phones, and microwaves.
These types of low energy radiation are called
non-ionizing radiation.
Ionizing radiation has potential for interacting with
and changing atoms and molecules.
This is an important distinction
which many people may not realize.
Our focus here is only on ionizing radiation,
but for simplicity, we'll just refer to it as radiation.
If radiation hits the cells in the body, it can damage
or even kill the cells.
The amount of energy that the body absorbs
from this radiation is called the radiation dose.
At high doses, and when most of the body is exposed,
enough cells die to impair the function of various organs
in the body and that can lead
to really serious health effects including death.
If only a specific part of the body is exposed
and the dose is high enough, it could lead
to localized effects such as skin injury.
At low doses, if any cells are damaged, the cells may repair
that damage with no consequence.
Or the cells may leave the damage unrepaired
or repair it incorrectly,
and these may have long-term consequences
and could potentially increase risk of cancer.
[Vivi:] You used the word "exposed."
Is this term used differently for radiation hazards
than other environmental hazards?
[Armin:] It is.
When our bodies absorb the energy from radiation,
we are being exposed to radiation.
We don't have to come in contact, necessarily,
with any radioactive materials.
If we walk away from the source
of the radiation, the exposure stops.
[Vivi:] So like with an x-ray -
you're exposed while the x-ray is being taken,
but you don't take any of the radiation home with you.
[Armin:] Exactly!
Now, in contrast, if radioactive material gets on our clothing,
skin or hair, it contaminates us.
We call this external contamination because it's
on the outside of our bodies.
External contamination can be removed simply
by taking off contaminated clothing
and washing with soap and water.
If we inhale or ingest radioactive material,
we call that internal contamination
because it is now inside our bodies.
It's harder to remove internal contamination.
Our bodies can get rid of some of it
through metabolism and excretion.
And for some types
of radioactive materials we have medicines -
we call them countermeasures - that can speed
up the excretion process.
[Vivi:] Okay, thanks.
That should help our viewers - and me- keep the terms straight
as we move onto the myths.
We went out and asked people some basic questions
about radiation.
In the next segments, we'll hear what they have to say.
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