Radiations and Cancer

Radiation, what was simply the energy emitted from a source, has become a word that is associated with the dreaded modern disease – Cancer. But that is an unfair generalization and one must understand what radiation is, before we brand it as a carcinogenic.
Radiation is a very broad term used for energy transported through radio waves. But it is further qualified into different types of radiation according to its place on the electromagnetic spectrum. The range begins with the highest energy levels to the lowest:
Gamma rays
X-rays
Ultraviolet (UV) rays
Visible light
Infrared rays
Microwaves
Radiofrequency (radio) waves
Extremely low-frequency (ELF) radiation

These radiations can be broadly classified into two categories depending on their wavelength and the amount of energy they transfer. These are the properties that determine whether they can travel through objects, whether they generate heat and whether they have effect on living tissue.
Non ionizing radiation has lower levels of energy that charges molecules and atoms causing then to vibrate faster. It is the ionizing radiation that is so strong that it can bring about chemical changes by breaking chemical bonds and damage living tissue.
In the above table, anything above visible light is ionizing radiation and everything below it is non-ionizing radiation.
So it is Gamma Rays, X-Rays and UV rays that produce such strong radiation which can either kill cells in the body or can mutate the DNA blueprint. This mutation means uncontrolled increase in cell division, which then leads to cancer. But fortunately these rays are only found at nuclear sites etc, which humans are not exposed to.
The other types of Rays are what we experience in everyday life from our power lines, TVs and cellular phones and are proven to be safe for humans.
Knowledge is our only weapon against cancer. Know whats harmful and whats not, and you can be safe against cancer.