Radiation Emergency During Pregnancy

Types of Radiation Emergencies

1. Intentional (Terrorist) Acts

• Contaminating food/water with radioactive material.

• Spreading radioactive material into the environment, for example, by using dirty bombs. A dirty bomb is a mix of conventional explosives (e.g., dynamite) with radioactive powder or pellets that spreads radioactive material on explosion.

• Exploding a nuclear weapon. Bombing or destroying a nuclear reactor.

• Causing a truck/train carrying nuclear material to spill its load.

2) Unintentional or Unplanned Radiation Emergencies
These include dirty bombs, nuclear blasts, nuclear reactor accidents, and transportation accidents (unintentional spill of radioactive material from a truck or train).

The after effects of exposure to harmful radiation in a fetus can be severe, even at the radiation amount too low to make a pregnant woman sick. Such effects can include stunted growth, deformities, abnormal brain function, or cancer that may develop sometime later in life.

Increased Cancer Risk
Radiation exposure due to radioactivity, before birth, can increase risk of getting cancer later in life. Unborn babies are especially sensitive to the cancer-causing effects of radiation. However, the increased risks depend on the amount of radiation, and the amount of time for which the fetus was exposed to it.

For example, if the radiation dose to the fetus was roughly equivalent to 500 chest x-rays or less, at any time during pregnancy, the increase in lifetime cancer risk would be slightly higher (less than 2 percent higher than the normal lifetime cancer risk of 40 to 50%). Health effects, other than cancer, from radiation exposure are not likely when the dose to the fetus is very low.

Death of The Unborn Baby
During the first 2 weeks of pregnancy, the radiation-related health effect of greatest concern is the death of the baby. The fetus is made up of only a few cells during the first 2 weeks of pregnancy. Damage to one cell can cause the death of the embryo before the mother even knows that she is pregnant. Of the babies that survive, however, few will have birth defects related to the exposure, regardless of how much radiation they were exposed to.

Birth Defects and Brain Damage
Large radiation doses to the fetus during the more sensitive stages of development (between weeks 2 and 15 of pregnancy) can cause birth defects, especially in the brain.

Babies exposed to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during the 8- to 15-week stage of pregnancy, were found to have a high rate of brain damage that resulted in lower IQs and even severe mental retardation. They also suffered stunted growth and an increased risk of other birth defects.

In the 16- to 25-week stage of pregnancy, similar health consequences can occur but only when the doses are extremely large. After the 26th week, the radiation sensitivity of fetus is similar to that of a newborn. This means that birth defects are not likely to occur, and only a slight increase in the risk of having cancer later in life is expected.

Basic Steps to Protect Yourself and Others in a Radioactive-radiation Emergency

If a radiation emergency occurs around a place where people live or work, you can take some immediate actions to protect yourself, your loved ones, and others around you. These actions include-

• Get inside and stay inside an undamaged building.

• Take shower, and change into clean clothes.

• Stay tuned to television or radio for updates and instructions. Emergency workers and officials will give you specific instructions to keep you safe.