Carbon 14 levels in humans?

Factual Questions
1

Hi,

I read this:

At BBC news online.

So exactly how increased are these levels of Carbon-14, and is there anything else that has “increased in all living organisms” following nuclear tests?

2

I can’t give a definite number. how ever rest assured its not “we are all going to die”

3

Well, we are all going to die, but that’s not the reason.

4

Speak for yourself. :rolleyes:

5

Isaac Asimov wrote the essay At Closest Range on this very subject. It can be found in his book Of Matters Great And Small.

According to Asimov Carbon 14 is potentially dangerous because carbon is one of the elements in our genes. Carbon atoms are scattered thoughout the body and some of them are inevitably found in genes. When one of the undergoes radioactive breakdown the gene is altered and that will produce a mutation that can be dangerous.

At the end of the article Asimov wrote: "Back in 1958, when atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs still went on wholesale, Linus Pauling (my favorite chemist) published a paper in Science (November 14, 1958) which went into the dangers of carbon-14 in a careful and systematic way. I’m sure this played its part in the eventual agreement on the part of the three chief nuclear powers to suspend atmospheric testing.

"And yet the fact is that the very first mention of the role of carbon-14 in genetics, as far as I know, came three years earlier in my own article “The Radioactivity of the Human Body,” which was published in The Journal of Chemical Education (Volume 32, pages 84-85, February 1955).

“My own casual reference to this matter in my early article in no way takes precendence over Linus Pauling’s detailed and cogent article in Science. Still, I have a letter from Professor Pauling, dated 11 Febrary 1959, which refers in a most kindly fashion to my article and-well, I just thought I’d mention it.”

6

Well hopefully the mutations will be novel and useful :slight_smile:

7

Figure 2 in this paper shows the rise in C-14 level in the 1950s:

http://www.grisda.org/origins/24050.htm

It’s almost a 100% increase.

As an aside, it’s interesting to see that most online info regarding atmospheric C-14 levels are put up by creationists, and such variations are used to discredit all C-14 measurements. The above paper talks a lot about creationism too, but I have no reason to think the data itself is false.