Medical imaging requires patients to be injected with or drink a radionuclide that can be “imaged” to show various organs and dysfunction. For the time that the radionuclide remains in your system (it is urinated out within a day or so), you are radioactive. According to the Health Physics Society, “our bodies are naturally radioactive, because we eat, drink, and breathe radioactive substances that are naturally present in the environment.”
According to the Health Physics Society, we emit about 500 atoms worth of radiation a second. But the real question is whether you are radioactive – this handy chart will help you figure it out. Think of it as a screening tool.
Category
