FALLOUT CAUSES RADIATION SICKNESS

The invisible gamma rays given off by fallout particles can cause radiation sickness—­that is, illness caused by physical and chemical changes in the cells of the body.  If a person receives a large dose of radiation, he will die.  But if he receives only a small or medium dose, his body will repair itself and he will get well.  The same dose received over a short period of time is more damaging than if it is received over a longer period.  Usually, the effects of a given dose of radiation are more severe in very young and very old persons, and those not in good health.

No special clothing can protect people against gamma radiation, and no special drugs or chemicals can prevent large doses of radiation from causing damage to the cells of the body.  However, antibiotics and other medicines are helpful in treating infections that sometimes follow excessive exposure to radiation (which weakens the body’s ability to fight infections).

Almost all of the radiation that people would absorb from fallout particles would come from particles outside their own bodies.  Only simple precautions would be necessary to avoid swallowing the particles, and because of their size (like grains of sand) it would be practically impossible to inhale them.

People exposed to fallout radiation do not become radioactive and thereby dangerous to other people.  Radiation sickness is not contagious or infectious, and one person cannot “catch it” from another person.

PROTECTION IS POSSIBLE

People can protect themselves against fallout radiation, and have a good chance of surviving it, by staying inside a fallout shelter.  In most cases, the fallout radiation level outside the shelter would decrease rapidly enough to permit people to leave the shelter within a few days.

Even in communities that received heavy accumulations of fallout particles, people soon might be able to leave shelter for a few minutes or a few hours at a time in order to perform emergency tasks.  In most places, it is unlikely that full-time shelter occupancy would be required for more than a week or two.

MANY KINDS OF FALLOUT SHELTERS

The farther away you are from the fallout particles outside, the less radiation you will receive.  Also, the building materials (concrete, brick, lumber, etc.) that are between you and the fallout particles serve to absorb many of the gamma rays and keep them from reaching you.

A fallout shelter, therefore, does not need to be a special type of building or an underground bunker.  It can be any space, provided the walls and roof are thick or heavy enough to absorb many of the rays given off by the fallout particles outside, and thus keep dangerous amounts of radiation from reaching the people inside the structure.