Did you forget your </sarc> tag???
From 1961: Effects of Inhaled Radioactive Particles
And if there's any doubt about 50+ years of data analysis:
From US EPA, Radiation Protection - Exposure Pathways
Inhalation Exposure by the inhalation pathway occurs when people breathe radioactive materials into the lungs. The chief concerns are radioactively contaminated dust, smoke, or gaseous radionuclides such as radon. What happens to inhaled radioactive materials?
Radioactive particles can lodge in the lungs and remain for a long time. As long as it remains and continues to decay, the exposure continues. For radionuclides that decay slowly, the exposure continues over a very long time.
Inhalation is of most concern for radionuclides that are alpha or beta particle emitters.
Alpha and beta particles can transfer large amounts of energy to surrounding tissue, damaging DNA or other cellular material. This damage can eventually lead to cancer or other diseases and mutations.
The latency period for radiation-induced leukemia is 5 to 7 years, and for solid tumors its 10 years or more.
Follow the money on this one. This is just another trial lawyer playing on people's mistrust of government and ignorance of health physics to try to cash in on the TEPCO settlement.
No, and I did not intend one, either.
Your body reacts *exactly* the same way to a radioactive particle as it would to a non-radioactive particle of the same chemical composition and physical structure. As for how the radiation itself affects the body, there are various caveats, such as what is the nature of the emission (beta, alpha, or gamma), what the energy of the emission is, and the quantity of radioactive material. Your body has redundant repair mechanisms for repairing damaged DNA, and a low dose exposure to radiation will not overwhelm those repair mechanisms. When those mechanisms are overwhelmed, the affected cells suicide (scientists call the process "programmed cell death" or "apoptosis"). At the point where cells are being overwhelmed is where the danger zone is: because not every cell with damaged DNA dies, and there is a higher chance of incorrect repairs when there is a lot of DNA damage. People who have this level of radiation exposure also have mild symptoms, like a sunburn. I won't get into what happens at higher doses of radiation exposure, since there is no reason to think that those 17 exposed sailors had even a minimally risky dose.
You might enjoy reading about the banana equivalent dose. Bananas carry radioactive potassium, which is spread throughout your body and incorporated into your cells whenever you eat a banana. I find the banana equivalent dose discussion a good overview of the issues of low-dose radiation exposure. Sometimes I joke that I haven't received my daily requirement of radiation, so I must eat a banana.