Nota: non si capisce perché non vi siano opportune etichette che specificano quante radiazioni ci prendiamo da ogni specifico prodotto. Che sia per la legge sulla privacy??

Many commercially-available consumer products cause radiation exposure to American citizens. The resultant exposure is either essential to the performance of the product (for example, airport luggage inspection systems, radioluminous products such as watch dials, and smoke detectors) or incidental to the performance of the product (for example, television receivers, tobacco products, and building materials).

     1. Electronic Products

     a. Television Receivers

Television receivers produce x-ray emissions as a result of the process of creating a picture on the TV screen. Color TVs have higher exposure rates than black and white sets. Population exposure to TV x-rays reached a maximum in 1968-1969. Congress then passed the "Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 1968" which required that TV manufacturers produce TV sets that have a maximum x-ray dose rate of 0.5 mrem/hour at 5 cm from the screen.

Since that time, the design of TV receivers has been dramatically improved and x-ray dose rates from today's TV sets are less than 0.1 mrem/hour at 5 cm (0.16 feet). Although the entire U.S. population is exposed to radiation from TV sets, current estimates are that the average dose rate is less than 1 mrem/year. Recall that exposure rate decreases as a function of the distance you are from the source of the radiation exposure. Let's do a sample calculation: Assume you sit 5 feet from a color TV screen for 5 hours per day for every day of the year. Your radiation dose rate (R) would be:

R = 0.1 mrem/h x 5 h/day x 365 days/year x (0.16 feet/5 feet)x(0.16 feet/5 feet) = 0.2 mrem/year

Of course, you can redo the calculation for your particular viewing habits.

b. Video Display Terminals (VDTs or Computer Screens)

VDTs, such as those used in office and home computers, use the same technology as TV receivers. There are reports of cataract formation and birth defects among VDT operators. However, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Research Council, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have concluded that the levels of radiation emitted by VDTs are unlikely to represent any health hazard. As with TV sets, current estimates are that the average dose rate from VDTs is less than 1 mrem/year.

 c. Airport Luggage Inspection Systems

An Executive Order in 1973 required that airline companies inspect all passengers and their hand carried baggage before boarding commercial aircraft due to concern over hijacking, terrorist activities and bomb threats. The inspection involves the use of an x-ray scanner to "look inside" carry-on luggage. Since, as all travelers know, this x-ray inspection is conducted in the presence of the traveler, the inspection equipment could result in a radiation exposure to the public if not properly controlled. There is a Federal performance standard which limits the x-ray dose rate to 0.5 mrem/hour at 5 cm from the external surface of the system. Radiation surveys of the x-ray scanning equipment are required on a regular basis by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The average dose to the public is less than 0.00008 mrem/inspection. Spending any unnecessary time in the proximity of the x-ray inspection system will result in additional radiation dose.

Tobacco Products

Tobacco products contain (...) radioactive contaminants. The presence of radioactive elements in tobacco is due primarily to the deposition of airborne radon and its decay products (primarily lead-210 and polonium-210) on the leaves of the tobacco plant. Tobacco leaves are large and have characteristics that retain the radon decay products once they deposit on the leaves. The radiation hazard from polonium-210 arises primarily because polonium is completely volatile above a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius (the temperature of a burning cigarette is between 600-800 degrees Celsius). A study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine found polonium in the pulmonary tissues of cigarette smokers and concluded that polonium may be an important factor in causing lung cancer in smokers. Since lead-210 emits alpha and beta particles and polonium-210 emits alpha particles, the radiation exposure is mostly to the individual smoker and not to persons in the vicinity of a smoker. However, secondhand smoke could cause some radiation exposure to others. Determining meaningful exposure and dose estimates for tobacco smoking is very difficult; it has been estimated that an individual smoking 30 cigarettes each day for one year could receive an annual radiation dose of 1300 mrem.

Food Irradiation

Food irradiation is the process where food is exposed to large doses of radiation (up to 1 million rads) in order to kill disease causing organisms, such as E-coli and salmonella bacteria, that are sometimes present in the food supply. Food irradiation has been accepted as safe and beneficial by the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and many others. (...) Food irradiation will increase radiation levels in food by a barely detectable amount on the order of 1/200,000 of the naturally occurring radiation level. If you replaced all of your foodstuffs with irradiated foodstuffs, then your increased radiation dose would be approximately 0.0002 mrem/year.