Who is exposed to ionising radiation?
COMARE’s chief concern is population exposure to ionising radiation. No-one escapes exposure to ionising radiation although individual doses may vary considerably. All of us receive doses from cosmic rays (especially when we travel by air), from the small amount of radioactivity within our bodies and from radiation coming from the ground. People that live in areas where there are large quantities of radon gas leaching from the underlying rocks receive an above-average dose from this source. The largest component of man-made radiation exposure is for medical reasons (eg, diagnostic X-rays, CT scans, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine. These are regarded as acceptable because of their clinical benefit and because this benefit is experienced by those actually irradiated. Workers in certain industries and professions (eg, radiographers, nuclear industry workers, submariners) receive small additional doses in the course of their work. Radioactivity has also been allowed into the environment
