AW: [ RadSafe ] Po-210 and lethality

[Rainer.Facius at dlr.de]

Eric,

in Radiation Research 51, Suppl. 5 (1964) Stannard and colleagues summarize the Po-210 animal findings in 28 articles which are possibly more easily accessible to some of us.

Regards, Rainer 

Dr. Rainer Facius
German Aerospace Center
Institute of Aerospace Medicine
Linder Hoehe
51147 Koeln
GERMANY
Voice: +49 2203 601 3147 or 3150
FAX:   +49 2203 61970

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag von Eric.Goldin at sce.com
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 30. November 2006 00:10
An: radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Po-210 and lethality


Hey Radsafers,  I'm a little surprised in all this talk and conjecture about polonium, nobody has referred to Newell Stannard's tome, "Radioactivity and Health, A History."  (DOE/RL/01830-T59, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, 1988).  The eminent Dr. Stannard dedicated over 30 pages to a review of all the relevant data on the history of polonium research, particularly World War II era work on animals, chemistry, metabolism, biological effects, even polonium in tobacco.  Reminded us that Polonium was the first radioactive element separated by Marie Curie, well over a hundred years ago.  There is a lot of discussion on the lethality of polonium where he pointed out that the acutely toxic doses were very small masses and that unlike lots of other heavy elements, polonium goes to soft tissue not bone.  Dr. Stannard noted that the acute pathology is very similar to whole body radiation, so much so that he didn't bother to repeat the acute radiation syndrome descriptions.  If you don't have a copy of this book in your library, time to order one.  I don't recall that it was all that expensive since it was a DOE publication but at nearly 2000 pages, well worth the wide spot on your shelf.

Eric M. Goldin, Ph.D., CHP
<eric.goldin at sce.com>

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