Radiation: Should We Be Afraid?

In leu of the Fukushima nuclear problems that started over two years ago, the New York Times published an article today about whether radiation is as bad as we all seem to think it is. Radiation is commonly believed to be a carcinogen that greatly increases the risk of of cancer, many people also believe that radiation has effects that could cause genetic mutations. According to studies mentioned in the article, which can be found here, these are just common misconceptions. Researches have been following many people that were with in ten kilometers of the explosions in Japan at the tail end of World War Two. Out of the 86,611 people they have followed only 10,929 of them have died from cancer. Even more astonishing is that out of those 10,929 only 527 of the those cancer cases were caused from the radiation of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. In addition to this, although the radiation did cause extreme birth defects if the fetus was exposed to the radiation there was no permanent genetic damage.  The article then goes on to explain that although these misconceptions about radiation have been disproven people are still reluctant to move back into an area that is given the all clear for its radiation level.

It has been scientifically proven that many of the affects of radiation that are commonly believed to be true are not true, but why is the fear of radiation sticking around? Should people still be afraid even though these facts are disprove? Why are people, not only in this situation, often reluctant to change their beliefs when they are disproven?