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The Effects of Radiation as Depicted in Edge of Darkness

The health effects associated with exposure to radiation vary in accordance to the amount of radiation absorbed by the body which is referred to as “the absorbed dose”. These health effects are therefore classified into either stochastic or non-stochastic health effects. The stochastic effects are associated with low level exposure to radiation and the effects are normally long term as opposed to being immediate. Non- stochastic effects on the other hand refer to the health effects that arise from exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation. Non-stochastic effects are also classified under Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) and include radiation doses above 0.7 Gray (Gy).

The movie Edge of Darkness by Martin Campbell clearly illustrates the different effects of the varying doses of nuclear radiation. In the initial scenes of the movie, Mel Gibson who plays the role of Thomas Craven, picks his daughter Emma (Novakovic Bojana) who is a scientist and environmental activist. She vomits right before entering the car and after getting home, she starts nose bleeding and continues to vomit uncontrollably. These are evident signs that Emma had been exposed to high levels of radiation poisoning due to the Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) symptoms that she exhibited. Symptoms of ARS include headache, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting majority of which were exhibited by Emma.

These symptoms start showing a few days after the event of exposure and are normally inconsistent. From the plot of the movie, it is known that Emma was either exposed to nuclear radiation at Northmoor after she led a team of six ‘GAIA’ members into the nuclear plant or she was poisoned using radiated milk irradiated with thallium. All the other members who accompanied her into the nuclear plant died on the spot at the nuclear mine. Their irradiated bodies were located by Craven and Jedburgh. Immediate death from exposure to nuclear radiation indicates that they absorbed massive dose of the radiation. The most likely cause of immediate death after exposure to such high amounts of nuclear radiation is cardiovascular syndrome in which the circulatory system collapses as a result of increased fluid content caused by vasculitis, edema or meningitis.

After being exposed to nuclear radiation in the faulty nuclear mine, Thomas too falls ill due to radioactive poisoning and is hospitalized but eventually dies. Jedbourgh too suffers from nuclear poisoning. He was poisoned as he carried the plutonium from the mine as evidence and due to his close contact with the radioactive material, he too exhibits ARS symptoms and even starts being delusional. Jedburgh is seen carrying the two plutonium bars at the conference and by bringing them close he irradiates Grogan. All the other characters exposed to the nuclear radiation evidently exhibit symptoms almost immediately since they absorbed large doses of the radiation.

Other symptoms that result after exposure to high radiation include redness of the skin that is often accompanied by swelling and itching, immediate tissue and organ damage which may lead to highly accelerated course of death among others. The movie mainly focuses on the effects of high levels of irradiation but rarely focuses on the long term effects that arise due to lower dosages. These include high risks of contracting cancer, alteration of DNA as well as hair loss.

Bibliography

Campbell, Martin, Mel Gibson, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone, Shawn Roberts, Howard Shore, Graham King, Tim Headington, Michael Wearing, Andrew Bovell, William Monahan, and Troy K. Martin. Edge of Darkness. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2010.