Radiation poisoning

Radiation poisoning, also called "radiation sickness", is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period. Many of the symptoms of radiation poisoning occur as ionizing radiation interferes with cell division. This interference causes particular problems for cells that normally divide rapidly, such as those lining the gastrointestinal tract. Likewise, this is one reason for the effectiveness of radiotherapy in treating cancer — cancer cells are among the fastest-dividing in the body, and will be killed by a radiation dose that adjacent normal cells are likely to survive.

See also

• Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• criticality accident
• ionizing radiation
• nuclear fallout
• radiation
• radioactive contamination
• radioactive waste