Will the radiation Mom-to-be exposed to on an airplane flight harm their unborn baby?
"Radiation" is a terrifying word to expectant mothers, Barich, a professor of Flight Radiation Protection Services Limited pointed out that whether we're on land or in the air, we're exposed every day to cosmic ionizing radiation, which emanates from the sun and other stars. On the ground, the Earth's atmosphere offers some protection from the radiation. At high altitudes, the air is thinner and radiation levels are somewhat higher. Especially radiation levels can be a lot higher, though, during solar flares — bursts of electromagnetic radiation caused by disturbances in the sun's atmosphere.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration posts solar radiation storm alerts on its Web site. Some experts recommend that pregnant women check the site before flying and consider postponing their trip a day or two if a storm is forecast.
Barich said the outbreak of solar radiation storms is irregular. Solar radiation storm caused by the outbreak of the level of radiation is equivalent to a person within one hour to undergo 100 - 200 times x ray, this radiation will endanger the health of aircraft passengers, especially pregnant women's health. For those crew members who fly frequently, often exposed to radiation will have huge long-term health hazards. Even in ordinary circumstances, the aircraft was flying at high altitude radiation which is higher a lot than the ground, because the aircraft was flying in the atmosphere above.
From the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration statistics also show that the plane of radiation may be related to the occurrence of cancer. In addition, a pregnant woman who always takes plane will have 0.5% higher defective fetus hazard rate than those pregnant woman who never fly, from 1 / 680-1 / 2000 range, depending on the pregnant woman to fly the frequency and route length. Hudson, Medicine Consultant of Pilots Association Aviation of The United States, claimed that, for ordinary people, the possibility of a small amount of radiation-induced cancer is not large, but long-term low-dose radiation of passengers receiving cancer more likely to be large; while pregnant stewardess and passengers are the biggest victims, because radiation on three-month-old fetus causes most harmful.