[ RadSafe ] Farmers fight radiation with Boron

[Geo>K0FF]

"Is that the case or does sodium borate do no harm? "

Boric Acid is the main ingredient in Roach Powder. When we make a borated paraffin wax neutron shield, we buy Roach Powder, it is cheaper than the USP or Reagent grade.

E285, a food additive is banned in the USA. 

Chelating IS a recognized treatment for radiation ingestion, but the trend in recent lay literature
seems to lean towards "radiation" as being a physical thing like, say acid.
We here know that any sort of chelation must directly address the root elements involved, as in any normal chemical reaction, all isotopes
of all elements are treated the same. Radioactive isotopes of Cesium are no different chemically than stable Cesium.
Some elements, like Thorium have no stable isotopes. Strontium, normally present in nature has a particularly common fission product isotope, Sr-90 which is of course radioactive. Tests such as hair tests, can accurately determine the amount of TOTAL strontium present, but
such simple tests lack the capacity to determine if it is the stable or radioactive isotope.
http://www.hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q3413.html

Each radioactive element should be address individually, for example for Cesium and Thallium, the use of Prussian Blue is recognized.
Strontium is treated separately
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8225994
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1759854
http://journals.lww.com/health-physics/Abstract/1999/05000/Removal_of_Strontium_By_the_Chelating_Agent.4.aspx



Strontium and calcium are in the same column on the Periodic Tables of Elements ( so is Radium). This means that in a biologic system, they are treated much the same. This is why for example, Ra and Sr are sometimes called "Bone Seekers".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_seeker
Similarly as chelation agent used to treat for strontium will often also remove calcium. Much work has been done to identify advanced chelating agents that will act upon strontium and calcium separately  (preferential chelation).


Reference the DOD's Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute for docs., publications, CD's,  handy reference cards and booklets.

http://www.usuhs.mil/afrri/outreach/guidance.htm#publications 

  For references to unusual but useless chelating treatments see:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chelation.html


George Dowell (caveat, not an MD, no judgments or decisions made here, just reporting the references for your disposition)