Radioactive Cargo in aircrafts

Millions of radioactive packages are transported regularly by air between different destinations around the world. I believe, India also imports and exports these radioactive sources for different applications, mainly for the diagnosis and treatment of patients in hospitals.

There are very stringent international regulations applicable for transportation of radioactive materials. The rules and regulations apply with respect to type of the radioactive source, nature of the package and the total radioactive material permitted inside the package. The purpose of this is to make sure that even in case of any accident no radioactivity comes out of the package and harm anybody.

Under such situations, there is no reason for any alarm and no need for the media to give undue importance for the presence of radioactive cargo in the aircrafts. Let us not make patients suffer because of our ignorance.