Nick Theodorakis <[email protected]> wrote in news:4c46dc22-1694-45ea-ab11-a441674e0...@x21g2000yqa.googlegroups.com:
> On Jun 8, 10:12 am, "Allan Jones" <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hi! >> >> There is currently a lot of radiation work going on in our lab and i >> am a > lways worried about people contaminating stuff with small amounts of > isotopes the geiger counter does not detect very well (ie tritium, > 14c, 35s). >> >> Now I have looked into the definition of annual limit on intake and >> so on > and am slightly confused. The ALI values seem extermely high, so does > this mean the amounts (a couple of µCi) we use are not particularly > dangerous? >> >> I do not assume anything is contaminated, but am a worrysome person >> and s > ome of the people here seem quite relaxed concerning radioactivity. I > guess however that back in their days its use was much more common. >> >> What do you think? > > As a point of comparison, I once had a medical imaging test in which I > was injected with 5 mCi (yes, that's milli) of radioactive thallium. > When I got back to lab, they said, ha ha, let's see if you're > radioactive, and held a geiger counter up to my chest. If course, I > made the geiger counter chatter, at which point it seemed they all > backed away and said, "oh." They kept me away from the x-ray film for > a couple of weeks. > > Anyway, the point is that lab use of radioactivity is typically a > couple of orders magnitude less than nuclear medicine use. Of course, > they should not be careless about radioactivity, just as they should > not be careless about other hazards such as phenol, formaldehyde, or > razor blades. Or leaving a puddle of water on the floor next to the > ice machine. > > Nick > > -- > Nick Theodorakis > [email protected] > contact form: > http://theodorakis.net/contact.html > I can second that experience (indirectly). My daughter as treated with I131 for Graves disease. I could stand 20 yards outside and aim the Geiger counter at her through 2 windows and hear it chatter wildly. Our granddaughters stayed with us for 3 days. -- Best regards Han email address is invalid _______________________________________________ Methods mailing list [email protected] http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
