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For scientists, the Petkau Effect may be illustrated as follows:^{18, 22,
64} "A long term exposure of extremely low radiation (i.e., one-ten millionth of a rad) was found to be 100 BILLION times MORE lethal than a short term exposure to exceedingly high level radiation (i.e., 10,000 rads per minute). As it turns out, Petkau discovered that at exceedingly high radiation levels, the abundant free radicals generated in tissues tended to cancel each other out before they could do cellular damage. But at extremely low levels of radiation, these same free radicals - produced in minuscule quantities - remain unchecked. And any steady stream of unchecked free-radicals will efficiently and lethally cleave lipid cellular membranes like a hot knife slicing through butter once they overwhelm and exhaust cellular antioxidant defenses. This dramatically illustrates the non-linear aspects of dose (rads) to lethality. Most scientists specializing in the field of nuclear medicine are unaware of this fact. And most think strictly in terms of genetic damage, while the above presents its lethal affects upon cell membranes and only secondarily to the genetic core."