[ RadSafe ] Radon solubility in fat: Re: Query on radium ball

Wed Aug 22 14:00:08 CDT 2012

Stewart,

I admit you are first! I would have written something very similat during the next minutes. The fact of solubility of radon in fat and in organic solvents is well known. The latter fact is actually used for an interesting method to determine radon-222 and also radium-226 in water using liquid scintillation spectrometry (I personally have done many thousand analyses). Desorption of radon collected on activated carbon into organic scintillators is used for determination of radon in air - I have done about  15 000 such analyses. 

I hardly believe that there is any radiation  risk from radon from these balls, simply because in a ceramic matrix radon  should be well encapsulated. If radium is the "active" ingredient external radiation might (!) have to be considered. 

Best regards,

Franz

---- Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net> schrieb:
> Hi all,
> A correction to one point in the  post below. Actually radon is highly fat  
> soluble vs. the thought expressed below:
> 
> See:
> http://enhs.umn.edu/hazards/hazardssite/radon/radondistrib.html
> 
> "Since radon is highly fat soluble and actively transported through the  
> body on the coattails of lymphocytes, common organs of destinations are  
> the liver (5%), kidney (1.6%), lungs (90% - primarily for elimination),  
> and other adipose tissue stores. Once the dissolved gas decays and becomes  
> charged, it can bind and decay further within various body tissues, and  
> emit harmful, mutagenic and cytotoxic, alpha particles."
> 
> 
> Stewart Farber
> 
> ================
> 
> On Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:26:57 -0400, <dlawrencenewyork at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> > I would hazard to guess that it also contains all of the other natural  
> > progeny of the Uranium decay series which at 30% of 490 Bq/kg those  
> > concentrations are not significant. The 'Radium' bearing minerals  
> > pictured appear to be some form of metamorphic rock and exempt source  
> > material. There are many natural products with activities of 13 pCi/g -  
> > or 4.3 pCi/g of U-nat (just about everywhere is Kerala). I'm not sure  
> > there is anything other than dubious health claims here which have  
> > obviously been poorly translated. My favorite is the fat solubility of  
> > the emanation Rn-222 which of course is inert. I could imagine many  
> > porcelain bath tub glazes with similar activities.
> >
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: parthasarathy k s <ksparth at yahoo.co.uk>
> > To: The International Radiation Protection( Health Physics) Mailing List  
> > <radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu>
> > Cc: radsafe <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> > Sent: Tue, Aug 21, 2012 9:39 pm
> > Subject: [ RadSafe ] Query on radium ball
> >
> >
> > Radsafers,
> >
> > I was  under the impression that use of radium has been stopped  
> > completely. I
> > received a query regarding the safety of a product, made in China. The  
> > company
> > is cashing on benefits perceived by the user.
> >
> > Details about the radium ball is available at the following URL:
> >
> > http://www.root-cn.com/Radium-Bath-Ball.html
> >
> >
> > It appears that the ball contains radium containing mineral at specific  
> > activity
> > of 490Bq/kg.
> >
> > Can any one conversant with this product advise me on the "health  
> > physics" of
> > it?
> >
> > Regards
> > Parthasarathy
> > _______________________________________________
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> 
> -- 
> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
> Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
> Bridgeport, CT 06604
> 
> 203-441-8433
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--
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD, MinRat
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
mobile: ++43 699 1706 1227