Re: Accident with Am-241 smoke detectors

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@ucdavis.edu>]

February 17, 2000
Davis, CA

The person who opposes the use of Am-241 in smoke detectors probably
imagines that the Am-241 is escaping into the air in his house and
poisoning his family.

The Am-241 sources in smoke detectors are so well sealed in a metallic gold
covered disk that even when one was accidently swallowed by an assembly
worker (I believe reported in the HPS Journal or Newsletter), it passed
through the GI tract with no measurable release of Am-241 into the body.
These are superbly sealed and safe sources as currently manufactured. There
is no scientific basis for the reported concerns.
 
Otto

		*****************************************************
		Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
              Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH)
		   (Street address: Building 3792, Old Davis Road)
		University of California, Davis, CA 95616
		Phone: 530-752-7754  FAX: 530-758-6140
		E-mail ograabe@ucdavis.edu
              *****************************************************
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