|
A roentgen is a measure of a quantity of radiation. When a dentist x-rays your teeth, he
uses approximately 5 to 10 roentgens. A milli-roentgen is 1/1000 of a roentgen and the scan ray equipment uses
0.1 milli-roentgens per inspection. That's 50,000 to 100,000 times less than your dentist uses. It is like comparing
the electricity in a high voltage power in with the electricity in a flashlight battery.
To describe it another way, you must remember that the earth is constantly bombarded with low level ionizing radiation
twenty-four hours a day. Ionizing radiation is produced by cosmic, X, or gamma radiation and they are all essentially the
same.
The maxumum leakage radiation from a scan ray system is 0.1 mR per hour at any point two inches from an exterior surface and
at the point where the operator is seated, the radiation level is too low to measure.
If you would past the equipment, there would be no exposure to leakage radiation whatsoever.
You might also be interested in knowing that the maximum permissible leakage radiation from your home television receiver, video
tapes or video cassettes is 0.5 mR per hour at any point two inches from an exterior surface. So, a scan ray emits five times less
leakage radiation than the amount permitted by a television set.
X-Ray is not residual in items being scanned, therefore is no health hazard in x-raying food items.
|
