Radiation resulting from damage to nuclear plants after tsunami

While health officials in Japan are distributing iodine tablets as a precaution as iodine protects against radiation- induced cancer, many scientists and experts have warned that a disaster in the stricken nuclear planst could be on the scale of Chernobyl where the reactor core melted and radioactive fallout were discharged into the air, harming civilians living at a relatively great distance from the reactor.
Since radiation exists for a long time, it has the capacity to inflict damage upon anything exposed to it. The most dangerous effect of radiation on the environment is damage to humans and animals. Radiation can destroy any type of molecule by causing it to lose electrons. Radioactivity can damage DNA leading to cancers, birth defects, and even death.