ASSESSMENT OF INDOOR CANCER LINKED TO ACCUMULATED RADIATION DOSE FROM DIFFERENT TYPES OF TELEVISION SETS IN DWELLINGS

Radiation exposure from different types of television sets has been measured to ascertain the levels of hazards in the human biological systems. The annual radiation dose hazards was performed using the halogen-quenched GM tube with thin mica end window having density of 1.5 mg/cm2, effective window diameter of 0.360 inch and side wall of 0.012 inch thick. The GM tube was placed for 180 minutes and the sensor faced the screens of the various types of TVs one meter apart. The annual radiation dose ranged from 0.012±0.006 mSv/yr for plasma-SONY to 0.13±0.012 mSv/yr for SHARP 24 inch and SAMSUNG 24 inch embedded with cathode ray tubes. The annual doses from the 15 inch-LG and 24 inch-LG were relatively low with values of 0.031±0.017 mSv/yr and 0.035±0.005 mSv/yr respectively manufactured with cathode ray tubes. The 21 inch THERMOCOOL and PROTECH produced annual doses of 0.110±0.052 Sv/yr and 0.063±0.002 mSv/yr respectively and comprises of cathode ray tubes. This provided information about the level of annual radiation dose present in the dwellings which might cause health complications due to cumulated (but does not always) dose resulting in carcinogenesis or other adverse cellular events in some months or years of exposure due to DNA damage to the human biological system through ionizing radiations detected.