(The average human being is dosed with
about 80-120 millirem (mrem) of ionizing radiation every year of his
life, most of it from the sun and other cosmic sources.)

>From a comic book standpoint, if a massive acute dose of gamma rays can

turn Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk, it's no stretch to say that
the somatic effects of an irradiated spider can also modify Peter
Parker's sex cell generating tissues and thus pass on his "spider"
genetic legacy to his children.

Jamie (former nuclear power tech)

Nice post.  I believe the average annual exposure is in the 300+ mrem
range, though, from all sources, depending on elevation. :)

300 mrem? Judging from my own personal experience among a population of
120 people wearing CaFl type dosimetry, not one of us ever approached
120 mrem/yr, and that was counting working in proximity to the critical
reactor plant. My greatest annual exposure was ~210 mrem, and that was
including four quarterly maintenance inspections within the shielded
volume of the Reactor Compartment, as well as about 12 hours in close
proximity (~2m) to the reactor vessel and a 9,000 mrem/hr on-contact hot
spot.

Granted, the calcium-fluoride type dosimeters do not "see" the lower
energy photons such as x-rays, but even then 300 mrem seems pretty
excessive. You'd have to live in Denver or Mexico City, eat a hundred
pound of bananas, and smoke two packs a day during temperature
inversions to get that kind of dosage.

Jamie, who glows rather nicely, thank you.
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