Radioactive waste – the source of which is mostly human-made, like nuclear power plants, nuclear testing, wrong disposal of nuclear or radioactive medicines by hospitals and so on — can cause serious impact on marine and land species, “There is a link between other species and humans via the associated food chain,”
‘Man-made radiation makes repairing broken genes harder’
DUBAI: All living things on earth and in the oceans live with exposure to natural levels of ionising radiation, which is high-frequency radiation with enough energy to change the DNA of organisms.
Most such genetic damage heals, but the addition of human-made radiation can make it harder for the body to repair broken genes, according to Master Pritvik Sinhadc, the world’s youngest author on palaeontology, the earth science that studies fossil organisms and related remains.
The eight-year-old gifted child, a student of Dubai British School, was speaking recently about “the impact of radioactive waste on marine and land species” at the Emirates Environmental Group’s (EEG) 9th community lecture of the year held at Dubai Customs premises.
His book on palaeontology, titled When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth, was released on June 21 at Magrudy’s bookstore at Jumeirah.
“Radioactive waste – the source of which is mostly human-made, like nuclear power plants, nuclear testing, wrong disposal of nuclear or radioactive medicines by hospitals and so on — can cause serious impact on marine and land species,” said Pritvik.
“Research on prehistoric mass extinctions and nuclear disasters have proved that uncontrolled radioactivity, nuclear or radioactive waste can hurt marine and land species in several ways – killing them or critically altering the genetics of these species, thereby creating bizarre mutations in their offspring or worse, passing radioactive material up the food chain,” he added.
“The primary source of radioactive waste is human activities such as nuclear power plants, nuclear testing and improper disposal of nuclear, radioactive and hazardous waste,” he noted.
“Man-made nuclear disasters cause deleterious effects on the genetics of marine and land species, hence creating mutations in generations to come. There is a link between other species and humans via the associated food chain,” he stated.
