Some Other Problems
Why are some people left-handed? I am 12 years old and the only lefthander in my family. Will it be a problem for me?
The lefties in our society should not feel apologetic for their ‘preferred laterality’, to use the correct medical term for left-handedness. There is an impressive list of left-handed leaders, artists and sports people including Queen Victoria, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Michelangelo, Paul McCartney, Judy Garland, Picasso, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Hand preference does not appear to be a characteristic of animals, but is exclusive to humans. There are many theories to explain this. Some experts claim it is due to emotional contrariness in childhood, others that it is inherited, still others that it is an acquired learning process. It may well be a combination of these factors.
Because most sporting equipment, tools and appliances are designed for right-handed people, this has created preference in the community for the right hand. Parents tend to give children toys and the like in their right hand, thereby adding to the learning process of the child. Hand preference usually begins around 9 months of age, and is established around 18 months to two years.
There is increasing research interest in the proficiency with which lefthanders are able to use their right hand. Some left-handers are quite hopeless using their right hand, while others are much better.
I was a soldier in Japan after the war, and visited Hiroshima. I also worked with yellowcake at a uranium treatment plant in South Australia in the 1950s. Is there any way of telling if I have been damaged by radiation?
Unfortunately there is no way of finding out if you have had any long-term damage to radiation from many years ago. At the time of radiation, blood tests may be abnormal, and if cancer or other disease does develop, once again pathology tests will be able to detect the damage, but in between these two stages, there are no tests that will give any meaningful result.
In order to give you some reassurance, I would point out that yellowcake has a very low level of radiation, and even today is transported in 44 gallon drums with no more protection than a thin layer of steel. It is extremely unlikely that working with yellowcake (which is a uranium ore concentrate) will cause any long-term problems.
I have checked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and they claim that no Australian servicemen were adversely affected by radiation while serving in Japan.