Well, Chuck, I think you can relax with this one. While this worked for Bill Gates, it certainly isn't for everybody. But I would put radiation sickness at the bottom of things to worry about. When humans are near things that are radioactive, this exposure is measured in units called rem, or roentgen equivalent man. Simply put, this unit of measure relates the amount of radiation absorbed by your body to the biological damage caused by the exposure.
Radiation tends to dislodge electrons from atoms in a process called ionization.
If this happens in our bodies, the ions can damage cells, causing cancer and other ill effects. But if the exposure is small, our immune systems can repair any damage before it becomes life-threatening. Our bodies are really good at this process because they do it all the time. There is naturally occurring radiation everywhere. All of us receive about three-tenths of a rem each year just from background radiation.