Abroad risks

[Les2121]

Hi all,

me and my family going abroad 3 times this year ,
2 family weddings and a family holiday.
one of the drs mentioned that going on holiday increases radiation risk to child as my child as already had a few X-rays and ct scans due to on going medical problem.

now I’m worried, partner like nothing to worry about. As any one of else been in similar situation.
thanks

Eh ???

Radiation is higher in aeroplanes. But given that pilots and air stewards work there every day, I'd say it's negligible.

Have name changed, this is my area of expertise and it's a very small industry.

It's true that the radiation exposure from flying is higher than at ground level, but the reality is that even from a few trips like that, even if longhaul, it really is negligible and likely much much smaller than the exposure due to 365 days a year of background radiation, especially if you live in an area where the radon (a radioactive gas that seeps out of the ground that we're all exposed to) concentration is higher than average.

It's also likely that your child's medical exposures would have given a higher radiation dose than a few flights but even the risk from those is very low, and you are only exposed to medical radiation if there's a benefit to be had that outweighs the risk of radiation exposure.

To put some numbers in:

The exposure from one short haul flight could be about 0.02 mSv
The exposure from a small number of medical scans is about 0.2 to 2 mSv (ten to a hundred times more)
Aircrew who work full time so spend around a thousand hours a year in the air receive around 2-5 mSv per year.
The background radiation we all receive each year is around 1 to 2 mSv every year, more if you live in a high radon area.

The risk from radiation exposure at these levels is very very small indeed. Literally a few in a million chance of coming to harm.

Please don't worry about it

Thank you for replies!
I never thought about it before till they mentioned it then started searching on Google 😂😂

@MCurieNotReally Is it correct that every person on the planet has some exposure from Chernobyl? Albeit very low of course. Is that part of background radiation?

Yes, it increases radiation risk, just like being outside for a picnic increases sun exposure risk, which could lead to skin cancer if high enough. That doesn't mean it's beyond a threshold for being 'dangerous'. You will be absolutely fine. Many people fly weekly for work and flight attendants/pilots fly most days. Your doctor sounds absolutely bonkers. Are they in the UK?

I once developed pneumonia in a country I was living (outside the UK). I went to a very fancy private hospital and was told that the blood I was regularly coughing up was likely caused by my excessive nostril hair which the dr noted upon examination of my nasal passages. I was also a bit fat. Both those things could be causing me to cough up blood clots. Nope, I just had pneumonia, and a hospital stay (in a different hospital) and antibiotics sorted that out. My nostril hair has caused me no issues in the 15 years since.

Yes in the uk, they mentioned because he is only 5 years old, that children more sensitive to it. it’s just worried me a bit, Cus never thought about it before he mentioned it.

thanks everyone xx

What @MCurieNotReally says rings bells from the info we got presented with as crew when european based airlines had to get slightly serious about this (due legislation) maybe twenty years ago.

For the sake of @Les2121 I'd also mention you'd very occasionally work with crew who had been through the illness mill, been subject to medical imaging including sometimes multiple CT scans, and then returned to work successfully flying full rosters.