[ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane -Way to narrow down exposure-Addendum
Muckerheide, Jim (CDA)
Jim.Muckerheide at state.ma.us
Fri Jun 16 12:11:50 CDT 2006
Stu, et al.,
To clarify, the PDF of Rowland's book (12 MB) is linkable from the
record:
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?query_id=1&page=0&osti_id=
10114798
Regards, Jim
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Stewart Farber
> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 12:49 PM
> To: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Cc: Stewart Farber
> Subject: Fw: [ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane -Way to narrow
> down exposure-Addendum
>
>
> Hello again,
>
> BTW, regarding sleuthing to determine Mae Keane's dose, the
> news article
> mentioned she only worked at the dial painting plant for a "couple of
> months".
>
> The Table A.1 from Rowland's book Radium in Humans mentioned
> with the 1,575
> dial painter cases includes a column of data on Exposure
> Duration [weeks],
> in addition to year of birth, sex, and year first exposed as
> I mentioned
> previously. These 4 factors really narrow down what cases
> [by anonymous
> Case Number] match Mae Keane's circumstances to only a
> handful of cases if
> one is willing to scan the 98 page Table A.1. It's not as
> daunting as it
> sounds since only a small fraction were still alive in 1990
> that were born
> in 1905- 1906. Then scan to see if the case was first exposed
> in 1923- 1924.
> The see if the Exposure Duration is around 8 weeks or so.
>
> The above cut factors should narrow down the possible cases
> to a handful of
> possibilities. It would be interesting to get some ideal of
> her total dose.
>
> Good luck & let us know what you find,
>
> Stewart Farber, MSPH
> radproject at aol.com
>
> =====================
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stewart Farber" <farbersa at optonline.net>
> To: "Muckerheide, Jim (CDA)" <Jim.Muckerheide at state.ma.us>;
> "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>
> Cc: "Stewart Farber" <radproject at optonline.net>
> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 12:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Dose to Mae Keane -Way to narrow
> down exposure
>
>
> > 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.
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > _______________________________________________
> >>> > You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing
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> >>> >
> >>> > Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have
> >>> > read and understood the RadSafe rules. These can be
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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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