Question

State different effects of radioactive waste in human life.

Answer 1

While teaching courses on environment and sustainability to management students, I find it interesting as to how frequently and how strongly a view emerges that India, at its current stage of development, should ignore environmental costs for the sake of meeting its development goals. This view appears to be consistent with the larger public opinion in India. When the World Values Survey—conducted across more than 80 countries—reported its findings from India in 2014, about half the people interviewed agreed that we should focus on economic growth even if it comes at the expense of the environment, whereas a little over a third of the respondents indicated a preference for environmental protection over economic growth. The larger public opinion is perhaps shaped by the discourse on the growth versus environment debate in India.

The country’s low rank on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index is raised often in the media and people at the highest levels of government set out to improve our ranking. High-powered committees comprising top bureaucrats and industry leaders are commissioned to write reports on streamlining and speeding up regulatory approvals, especially those related to the environment and forests. In the past decade and a half, there have been at least five such committees, which made recommendations to improve the climate for private investments in industry and infrastructure.

Answer 2

Different effects of radioactive waste in human life:

The waste which is composed fully of radioactive material that emits harmful radiation to the surrounding is called as radioactive waste. It has diverse effect in human life because it has the ability to cause mutation as well as modify the genetic makeup of the cell.  

The effect exerted by radioactive wastes can be classified as:

• Somatic effect
• Genetic effect

The somatic effect may cause damage to the other part of the body and doesn’t include the reproductive system. This includes Leukemia and cardiac problems, vomiting, severe hair loss, skin burns etc. The genetic effect of radioactive wastes causes adverse damages to the reproductive system of the human and causes genetic defect such as Down syndrome, Turner syndrome etc.