From Hiroshima to Fukushima to You: A Primer on Radiation and Health

From Hiroshima to Fukushima to You: A Primer on Radiation and Health

Posted Sun, 11/23/2014 – 15:03

From Hiroshima to Fukishima to You: A Primer on Radiation and Health by Dr. Dale Dewar and Florian Oelck explores what has been happening to us and our environment since the nuclear age began.

Written from a physician’s perspective, the book provides clear and accurate information about radiation so that we can all make informed choices.

What is radiation? Where do we encounter it? What are the benefits and risks? How do we develop a responsible future around the uses and abuses of radioactivity?

Dr. Dale Dewar is associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan and former Executive Director of Physicians for Global Survival. She worked for short periods in Inuvik NWT and Churchill Manitoba, and worked in Ile-a-la-Crosse as a physician and in Saskatoon as Director of Northern Medical Services and has been an active member of the International Committee of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada.

Book Description: The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, brought radiation to international attention but the exact nature of what had been unleashed was still unclear to most. The 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant again made headlines with estimates of fatalities ranging from 4000 to almost a million deaths. By the time of the shocking 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant social media meant governments and corporations no longer had a monopoly over the release of information, but transparency remains low on the agenda.

Meanwhile, few physicians give thought to the delayed health effects of radiation. It has been the bold physician who has challenged the potential overuse of chest X-rays, CT scanning, or PET scans. This book provides clear and accurate information about radiation so that we can all make informed choices.