RE: RF Shielding for CRTs

["Simmons, Charlie" <CSimmons@kilstock.com>]

>Many old sets had thiner glass on the top and bottom of the
>tubes and I remember many stories about the family cat that lay on top of
>the TV becoming sterile after many years. (Urban Myth?)


The glass used in CRT facing was not only thicker, it also had a high lead
(Pb) content. Interesting how resolving a radiation concern generates other,
perhaps more environmentally significant consequences:  The high lead
content employed by CRT manufacturers to shield viewers from low energy
x-irradiation introduced significant levels of Pb into other environmental
media (slags, oven stack emissions and glass oven residue, for example), not
to mention worker exposures to a toxic metal.  Parallel situations exist
where environmental and societal consequences of allocating
materials/resources to a radiation "problem" are not fully analyzed.    
		

		
		
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