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Radiophobia is an abnormal fear of ionizing radiation, also used in the sense of fear of X-rays. The term is also used (polemically, not medically) to general opposition to the use of nuclear energy.

Fear of ionizing radiation is not unnatural, since it can pose significant risks; however this fear may become abnormal and even irrational, often owing to poor information or understanding, but also as a consequence of traumatic experience.

Contents 1 Radiophobia and Chernobyl 2 Radiophobia as a term in the atomic energy debate 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Radiophobia and Chernobyl

In the former Soviet Union many patients with radioactive sickness after the Chernobyl disaster were accused of radiophobia^{[citation needed]}. The term "radiation phobia syndrome" was introduced in 1987 ^[1] by L. A. Ilyin and O. A. Pavlovsky in their report "Radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union and measures taken to mitigate their impact,"^[2]

The author of Chernobyl Poems Lyubov Sirota^[3] wrote in her poem "Radiophobia":

Is this only - a fear of radiation?

Perhaps rather - a fear of wars?

Perhaps - the dread of betrayal,

Cowardice, stupidity, lawlessness?

The term has been criticized by Adolph Kharash, Science Director at the Moscow State University because, he writes, "It treats the normal impulse to self-protection, natural to everything living, your moral suffering, your anguish and your concern about the fate of your children, relatives and friends, and your own physical suffering and sickness as a result of delirium, of pathological perversion^[4]

[edit] Radiophobia as a term in the atomic energy debate

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Today the term "radiophobia" is polemically applied to the arguments of proponents of the LNT concept (Linear no-threshold response model for ionizing radiation) of radiation security proposed by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) in 1949. The "no-threshold" position effectively assumes that even negligible doses of radiation may pose danger. The issue remains controversial.

[edit] See also

• List of phobias

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Michel Fernex "The Chernobyl catastrophe and health"
• "Radiophobia" of Lyubov Sirota in video.