Environmental Research Foundation . . P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403 . .
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To subscribe, E-mail the words . . The penetrating power of ionizing radiation makes it useful but also makes it dangerous. Under certain circumstances, which are still not understood, some disrupted cells start multiplying without limit, and this is a condition known as cancer. Americans began creating radioactive wastes shortly after 1896, but no special precautions were taken for handling such wastes until 1954 when the federal Atomic Energy Commission began licensing all radioactive materials. As radiation became more widely used in industry and even in consumer products, the public has become concerned about possible hazards and about the carelessness of the people who handled and regulated radioactivity in the past.