On radiation, is it better for a pregnant woman to fly during day or night? What shield product to use?

Question

Some said there is no difference during day or night, but some others said during night the earth' Magnetosphere is taller. Does that appear more protection during the night?

Some said lead is not effective to shield cosmic radiation, use plastic (polythene?) instead. Any specific brand that is economical and trustworthy?

Some said radiation during flights is minimal, not to worry, but data showed the dosage is over 100 times stronger than on the ground. If I have to eat 100 times more food during a meal I'd suffer, why wouldn't the same health effect occur here? If you try to have a whole year's sun light on your skin during one day, see what happens. So I don't buy the yearly dosage theory.

Answer 1

Anyone who is trying to sell you something to protect you from "increased radiation" on an airline flight is a scam artist of the lowest caliber. Look at it this way:

On a transatlantic flight you pick up about 4.5 millirem. This is an utterly insignificant compared to other sources you might be dealing with, just fine, all the time (and in fact low doses of radiation have been shown to not have adverse effects, it's high doseages you need to worry about).

Live in Denver? 55 millirem a year (high altitude), plus another 90 millirem a year from the rocks around the plateau.

Live on the Pacific coast at sea level? 28 millirem a year, plus 46 from the ocean.

Porcelain crowns on your teeth? 0.07 millirem.

Watch TV, use a computer, or other moniter? 1 millirem each.

Share a bed with someone? 1 millirem.

wear a digital watch? 0.06 millirem.

Have a smoke detector? 0.008 millirem each.

Just fly, the radiation dosage you get while airborn is not significantly different than what you get on the ground.

Answer 2

Really, don't worry about it. Wearing a lead vest to fly on an airplane is one step below putting a metal bowl on your head to block out the alien mind control. It's just not something you need to worry about. Yes, the radiation exposure on a plane is higher than on the ground, but it's still so far below the dose that could even begin to possibly be harmful even to a fetus that you just don't need to worry about it. It's far below the dose that hospitals consider safe for pregnant employees to be exposed to, and there's never been any problems with it. Radiation exposure has been studied quite extensively over the years, and the dose that is potentially harmful to both an adult and a fetus has been determined quite precisely, and the dose you receive on an airplane is about 1,000,000th of the level at which it might start to be harmful.

PS. I don't know where you heard that lead is not effective at shielding radiation, but I assure you it is.

Answer 3

some people (like flight crews) fly nearly every day for years on end

if radiation was a significant danger during airplane flights, it would certainly have shown up in these people

I don't know if radiation during a flight is 100 times normal but if it is, that is not necessarily a problem, because it is 100 time nearly nothing

if you had to eat 100 times more whale brains than you normally eat, would that be a problem? no, because you normally eat no whale brains and 100 times is still nothing

my wife flew on commercial airlines one or two times on one or two of her pregnancies, no big deal

relax, enjoy the flight

Answer 4

In my opinion, you are worrying too much. The radiation you get on the ground should not be compared to eating a full meal. It would be more like eating a single granule of sugar. 100 times that is only 100 granules of sugar; hardly enough to even taste and way way less than a teaspoon.

Airline flight crews spend way, way more time flying than you do, but have you heard of them having health problems? I haven't. Have you heard of people who live their whole lives in high altitude places, like Tibet, having increased rick of cancer? I haven't. The dose may be higher than at sea level but it is still no big deal.

Answer 5

As long as you're not a witch, and fly by aeroplane, you get almost no sun - the portholes on airplanes are small, and have a solid shutter.

If you really want to avoid all radiation, fly at night, do not use microwave or cellphone, do not watch TV and only use flat (LCD) displays on computer.

Answer 6

a plane will stop most radiation.. fly any time when the rates are cheaper..