system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:How is radiation both a cause and a treatment for cancer?
gpt
Radiation can damage a cell by breaking and forming chemical bonds. This can include damage to DNA which can lead to mutations which cause cancer.

However, enough radiation will just do so much damage to the cell's structures that it dies.

Targeting a tumor with large bursts of radiation can kill those cancerous cells. The use of radiation as a cancer treatment is just very precise so as to not damage healthy cells.