Hidden Dangers and Risks ... of Medical Scans, X-rays, ...and Other Tests Are hospitals and doctors acting like the proverbial auto mechanic who can't find the problem and keeps charging you for unneeded parts and repairs? Check out these reports.   How Dangerous Are CT Scans? This article states: "A CT scan packs a mega-dose of radiation — as much as 500 times that of a conventional X-ray." High Health Care Costs -- Who's to Blame? This article says: "Under the present system, hospitals and doctors earn more money by doing costly interventions than by keeping people healthy." Too Many Unnecessary MRIs and CT Scans? Many Heart Patients Anemic After Too Many Blood Tests in Hospital - Researchers warn this could translate into worse outcomes Concern Is Growing That The Elderly Get Too Many Medical Tests Do I Really Need That Test? Biggest radiation threat is due to medical scans - Americans get most medical radiation in world; dose has grown sixfold Next time you consider a chest xray, or any other scan for that matter, think about this story: "San Onofre nuke plant worker falls in reactor pool" which tells about a man who feel into a nuclear power plant reactor pool, but was fine and went back to work the same day. They said he received 5 millirems of radiation. "By comparison, a chest X-ray provides about a 4-millirem dose," was how that article said it. But I did some checking: I read government radiation data on the web site of the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. THEY say, "the average dose from a chest X-ray is about 10 mrem," so who is telling the truth?  Personally, I trust Oakridge. Does this mean that falling into and climbing quickly out of a nuclear reactor pool is safer than a chest x-ray? But get this: the Oakridge site also tells us under the heading: "Levels of Radiation" Gastrointestinal series (upper & lower) = 1400 millirem ( 280 times the amount of radiation the man got who fell into the nuclear reactor pool. ) CT Scan (head & body) = 1100 millirem ( 220 times the amount of radiation the man got who fell into the nuclear reactor pool. ) Mammogram = 30 millirem ( 6 times the amount of radiation the man got who fell into the nuclear reactor pool. ) Dental X-ray: 10 millirem ( 2 times the amount of radiation the man got who fell into the nuclear reactor pool. ) So do we really know how dangerous radiation is for the human body? Anyone up for a nice bracing swim in the nearest nuclear reactor pool? Ahhhh, can’t you just feel all that lovely energy radiating through your body? How refreshing!       Return to Homepage Check this Topic Index Check these videos of an unforgettable young man