Low doses of radiation may be good for us

I found this fascinating - Radiation for health:

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Luckey, an emeritus professor of the University of Missouri, was the nutrition consultant for NASA's Apollo 11 to 17 moon missions and has spent the last several years developing the concept of improving health through exposure to low-dose radiation.
"When beliefs are abandoned and evidence from only whole body exposures to mammals is considered, it becomes obvious that increased ionizing radiation would provide abundant health," Luckey explains. He suggests that as with many nutritional elements, such as vitamins and trace metals it is possible to become deficient in radiation. "A radiation deficiency is seen in a variety of species, including rats and mice; the evidence for a radiation deficiency in humans is compelling." In the first part of the twentieth century at a time when our understanding of radioactivity was only just emerging, health practitioners began to experiment widely with samples of radioactive materials. Then, exposure to radiation, rather than being seen as hazardous, was considered a panacea for a wide variety of ailments from arthritis to consumption.
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Some of Professor Luckey's research is reviewed in a recent edition of the International Journal of Low Radiation.

Don Luckey's findings show that a low dose of radiation is good for us. Maybe this will solve our nuclear power waste disposal problem. Maybe we just need to place a few ounces around our houses.

I had an image of going through the local grocery store next year: "Hmm, I'll pick up some apples, a multi-vitamin, and a couple of nuclear tablets. Consumer Reports reported that the Diablo Canyon tablets have just the right mixture of low radiation."


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