Glowing Cigs
Cigarettes...These poison sources will be the topic of my next post. What amazes me is how integrated cigarettes are within our society. They have been popular as far back as I could remember and only recently are starting to be questioned. Yet, their poisonous side effects have been well known for quite some time as well. There is a deadly laundry list of chemicals that are inhaled when smoking. That is commonly known. However, what is probably less known is the reason why these addictive sticks fall on my random nuclear thoughts blog. So for today, we shall have some random nuclear thoughts on the nuclear exposure due to smoking cigarettes...
The average adult smoker can smoke anywhere from 10 to 20 cigarettes a day. That's a lot of smoke breaks, I know. But somehow smokers find the time to smoke that many a day, be them with meals, during breaks, and whenever things get a little too stressful. Also, the average American receives an average of 6.2 mSv of radiation exposure a year. It is generally believed as well that increases in exposure lead to increases in the possible health risks.
More exposure = Higher chance of cancer and other diseases.
All this exposure comes from natural radiation and man-made radiation sources. These sources can be cosmic rays from the sun all the way down to those CT scans you get every few years. Medical procedures count for the majority of the average American's yearly dose. 51% of your exposure comes from the excessive CT scans one chooses to get, not the reactor a few miles away. But this is the knowledge that nuclear fans have been trying to get across for some time now. Today, this post is based on this fact, the average smoker receives .251 mSv a year from their smoking habits. On top of all the toxic chemicals in cigarettes, there is a high concentration of nuclear products that are taken up by tobacco and directly inhaled by smokers. These are radioactive forms of Radium and Lead and more. This exposure can span from .151 to .401 mSv depending on the amount smoked. This is anywhere from 2.5% to 6.5% of your yearly exposure, with an average of 4%. This would be in addition to the previous average exposure, as that does not include smoking habits.
Now, in summary, some may not feel a 4% increase to be life-changing. But this is on top of all the other toxic chemicals that are introduced into your lungs and eventually your blood stream. This value is probably more than what that same nuclear reactor a few miles away is doing to anyone. Also, that reactor has provided clean energy while a smoker is poisoning themselves and also giving a dose to any nearby secondhand smokers. Finally, these are concentrated dosages to your lungs and gradually circulated through your body, As soon as those pockets of tar build up in the lungs these radioactive isotopes also get trapped in the lungs, further concentrating the exposure.
All in all, this was just random musings on the dangerousness of cigarettes and its lesser heard of nuclear effects. I recognize the strains of addictions and the comfort that cigarettes can provide. I haven't smoked but my father was an avid smoker. Yet, it's important to know the facts so one can make a decision and if I enlighten even one person this post would have been a success. --Thanks
Cited:
Papastefanou, Constantin. “Radioactivity of Tobacco Leaves and Radiation Dose Induced from Smoking.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 6.2 (2009): 558–567. PMC. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.
