[ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane -Way to narrow down exposure

Fri Jun 16 11:15:22 CDT 2006

Hi all,

The initial article in this thread appears to be in error. Also it may be 
possible to determine what the dose to this person is from radium intake.

First, it seems highly unlikely that Mae Keane is the last surviving "Radium 
Girl". She may be the oldest at this moment, but many of the 2,403 
individuals listed in the Appendix to Radium in Humans: A Review of US 
Stuties by Rowland [ANL/ER-3, published Sept. 1994] were born in the 1930s 
and 1940s. So while Mae Keane may be the oldest [and God bless her for good 
genes and a good attitude contributing to her longevity], she is not likely 
the last dial painter alive.

There are 1,575 dial painters in the Argonne Table A-1 list. For example 
Case 12-646 was born in 1946, was alive in 1987, was first exposed in 1965, 
and exposed as a Dial Painter for 260 weeks. Is she still alive?  No way to 
tell from the Tables but very like based on her age. Another dial painter 
listed [Case 12-669] was born in 1957, and first exposed in 1974 for 22 
weeks!  Where this was done, I have no idea. Go figure.

For those on the list who want to be amateur radiation dose/epidemiological 
sleuths, it is possible to scan Table A.1 of the referenced Appendix. From 
the sex of the individual, date of birth, whether they were alive in 1990 
[the date the book was published], their year of first exposure it should be 
possible to find or at least narrow down the exposure data for Mae Keane.

She was born in 1905 or 1906 [since she is 100 now] and from what she said 
went to work painting dials at age 18 [in 1923 or 1924]. Since she was alive 
in 1990, only a few cases in the list of exposed women will match her age, 
and date of first exposure. From this review, it should be possible to 
bracket her radium intake, Ra-226/Rad-228 ratio, and tabulated dose from 
Ra-226 and 228.

A project for a motivated Radsafer! Good luck and let us know what you find!

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
203 367-0791
radproject at aol.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Muckerheide, Jim (CDA)" <Jim.Muckerheide at state.ma.us>
To: "parthasarathy k s" <ksparth at yahoo.co.uk>; "John Jacobus" 
<crispy_bird at yahoo.com>; "Susan Gawarecki" <loc at icx.net>; "RADSAFE" 
<radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 1:59 PM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane may be kilorads!

> Evans' paper responded to misrepresentations of effects in BEIR 1972 in
> the 1974 HPJ. See e.g., the first item at:
> http://www.radscihealth.org/RSH/Data_Docs/1-2/4/1/1241list.html
>
> Note that Evans' paper only includes the MIT epidemiologically
> significant data (about 300 cases?)
>
> I meant to mention also that Rowland's book is available as a PDF as
> ref'd in Rowland's summary.
>
> Regards, Jim Muckerheide
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl
>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of parthasarathy k s
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 12:07 PM
>> To: John Jacobus; Susan Gawarecki; RADSAFE
>> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane may be kilorads!
>>
>>
>> Prof R D Evans published a review of the doses to those who
>> had significant intakes of radium as dial painters (I can
>> locate the paper; it was in the Health Physics journal). The
>> doses were of the order of hundreds of rads that too
>> contributed  by alpha particles from the decay products of
>> radium;a few must have received kilorads! The poineering work
>> done in USA by two groups in Argonne and Massachusettes laid
>> the foundation stone for internal dosimetry of bone seeking
>> radionuclides such as Strontium-90, plutonium-239 etc.
>>
>> The work is often projected to indicate evidence against LNT concept.
>>
>> Can any one in the list provide more about the human side of
>> the tragic experience of those who suffered radium poisoning.
>> It appears that the first victim sued the employer, got
>> compensation; most of it went to the lawyers.(It was probably
>> the first case of this kind).
>>
>> I am keen to get details about how many victims were part of
>> the internal contamination study which went on  for decades.
>> Can any one provide appropriate references?
>>
>> Regards
>> K.S.Parthasarathy Ph.D
>> Raja Ramanna Fellow
>> Strategic Planning Group
>> Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences
>> Department of Atomic Energy
>> GN 18, Vikram Sarabhai Bhavan
>> Mumbai 400094, INDIA
>>
>> 91+22 25555327 (O)
>> 91+22 2 5486081(O)
>> 91+22 2 7706048(R)
>> 9869016206 ( Mobile)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: John Jacobus <crispy_bird at yahoo.com>
>> To: Susan Gawarecki <loc at icx.net>; RADSAFE <radsafe at radlab.nl>
>> Sent: Wednesday, 14 June, 2006 6:30:06 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Last surviving Radium Girl
>> celebrates 100th birthday
>>
>>
>> Interesting.  I see no information on dosage, which
>> makes this just an interesting story.
>>
>> --- Susan Gawarecki <loc at icx.net> wrote:
>>
>> > Last surviving Radium Girl celebrates 100th birthday
>> >
>> http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/06/
>> 01/last_surviving_radium_girl_celebrates_100th_birthday/
>> > By Robyn Adams, Republican-American  |  June 1, 2006
>> >
>> > WATERBURY, Conn. --Mae Keane, the last surviving
>> > Radium Girl, was all
>> > aglow as she celebrated her 100th birthday recently.
>> >
>> > At age 18, fresh out of Wilby High School, she went
>> > to work at the old
>> > Waterbury Clock Co. factory off Cherry Street. She
>> > was among the women
>> > dubbed the Radium Girls after the greenish radium
>> > paint used to make the
>> > watch dials glow in the dark. It later caused
>> > significant health
>> > problems for many. They were encouraged to apply the
>> > paint by moistening
>> > the bristles on their lips before dipping the brush
>> > into the paint.
>> >
>> > Though Keane worked at the clock factory just a
>> > couple of months, she
>> > lost her teeth and suffered skin and eye problems.
>> > Doctors could never
>> > pinpoint the exact cause of her ailments. "I don't
>> > think the bosses even
>> > knew it was poison," she said. "The foreman would
>> > tell us it was very
>> > expensive, and to be careful. We had no idea. But
>> > when they did find
>> > out, they hid it."
>> >
>> > Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive material
>> > used from the 1900s
>> > to the 1940s to paint glow-in-the-dark dials on
>> > clocks, watches and
>> > aircraft navigation equipment. Significant exposure
>> > can cause leukemia
>> > and anemia and has been linked to cancer of the
>> > bones, mouth and sinus
>> > cavities.
>> >
>> > About 20 Waterbury Clock factory workers, mostly
>> > women hired because of
>> > their smaller fingers, died from exposure to radium
>> > in 1927.
>> >
>> > "The girls (sneaked) the radium to paint their toe
>> > nails to make them
>> > glow," Keane said.
>> >
>> > Perhaps it is her sense of humor that has helped her
>> > live a long life.
>> > The only prescription medication she takes is to
>> > control her blood
>> > pressure, though she was diagnosed with colon cancer
>> > at one point. "The
>> > doctor wanted to give me chemotherapy," Keane said.
>> > "I told him 'no.' I
>> > wanted radium." After five weeks of radiation, she
>> > was on the mend.
>> >
>> > Keane isn't quite sure what led her to work at the
>> > clock factory. The
>> > pay was $18 a week for a 40-hour work week, and the
>> > women earned an
>> > average of six cents for each dial painted.
>> >
>> > In 2004, Keane and the late Josephine Lamb, another
>> > Radium Girl, were
>> > featured in a dance and video production that
>> > explored the work done by
>> > young women in clock factories. Josephine Lamb was
>> > bedridden for 50
>> > years from the radium poisoning. She died in 1974 at
>> > the age of 79.
>> >
>> > Keane, a Red Sox fan, laughs when asked about her
>> > secret to longevity.
>> > "I'm lazy," Keane said, adding she never smoked,
>> > loved to walk and
>> > dance, and enjoys caramel candy, chocolate and an
>> > occasional apricot
>> > sour or Bailey's Irish Cream. "I didn't get old
>> > until I was 98," she said.
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> > Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have
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>>
>>
>> +++++++++++++++++++
>> "You get a lot more authority when the workforce doesn't
>> think it's amateur hour on the top floor."
>> GEN. MICHAEL V. HAYDEN, President Bush's nominee for C.I.A. director.
>>
>> -- John
>> John Jacobus, MS
>> Certified Health Physicist
>> e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com
>>
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