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RE: Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology- K-40 Thread
Thanks very much for your fascinating "sidelight" !
....just as a note of caution, I can see some wiseguy make a "connection"
with this story :
Latest from Newsworld
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/NWview.cgi?/news/2000/01/19/salt000119
Road salt may be hazardous to people's health
WebPosted Thu Jan 20 12:19:38 2000 ET
VANCOUVER - Most Canadians know how road salt helps clear slippery roads
while taking a toll on our cars. But a professor at the University of
Victoria says we may not know that road salt may be damaging to people's
health.
Dr. Harold Foster, a geographer, says road salt may be the worst
cancer-causing agent in the environment. He compared the map of cancer rates
in different regions with the presence of 219 different substances in the
environment. The closest correlation was with road salt, even more than
mercury.
"At the moment I can't prove that road salt causes cancer. All I can prove
is that the distribution pattern of deaths from cancer is very similar to
the distribution pattern of where road salt is very widely applied," said
Foster.
Foster says more research should be done to find out if there is a
connection between road salt and cancer rates. Environment Canada says it's
doing that research and is also considering a ban on road salt. Canadians
use three to four million tons of road salt a year.
But the salt industry insists its product is safe. "There's no medical
research showing a causal link between the use of salt and cancer," said
Salt Institute spokesman Jeanpaul Sirois.
But he also admits Foster's theory hasn't been tested in any medical lab.
> ----------
> From: RadiumProj@cs.com[SMTP:RadiumProj@cs.com]
> Reply To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Sent: Thursday April 06, 2000 8:46 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology- K-40 Thread
>
> Radsafers:
>
> FYI. On the subject of interesting sidelights related to K-40 is the issue
> of
> KCl salt "Quickmelt" commonly sold each winter in bulk 50 pound containers
>
> anywhere in the Northern US.
>
> KCl has a K content of about 500 g/kg and a K-40 concentration of over
> 400,000 pCi/kg of KCl. Do the math. Years ago after seeing a display of
> KCl
> next to the checkout counter at a local Sams' Club consisting of a palet
> of
> KCl containers [50 pounds each] about 10 deep by 7 wide by 5 high [7945
> kg],
> I did a quick calculation that indicated a gamma dose rate from K-40
> photon
> flux would be about 0.2 mR/hr in the middle of the display.
>
> I went back with a DigiDose meter and placing it in close proximity got a
> dose rate of about 0.1 mR/hr, or more than 10 times background.
> Interesting.
>
> I have a photo of a mother with her small child waiting in the checkout
> line
> next to this KCl salt display.
>
> The irony is KCl is being mined in bulk and the radiation producing
> technologies want to put nuclear waste into salt mines. Nuclear waste
> will
> eventually decay away with a half life of tens of years to thousands of
> years
> for the major components of a nuclear plant or weapon's mix. For KCl the
> K-40 has a half life of more than a billion years. Go figure.
>
> Nevertheless this does make an interesting point on a natural radiation
> source being brought into commerce which delivers a dose rate and
> person-rem
> to real people that will far exceed that which nuclear waste storage could
>
> ever deliver in the offsite environment to real people.
>
> Stewart Farber
> 172 Old Orchard Way
> Warren, VT 05674
> email: radiumproj@cs.com
>
>
>
> In a message dated 4/5/00 11:20:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time, sjd@swcp.com
> writes:
>
> << On April 5, Frank R. Borger asked, "Can anybody out there come up with
> an
> estimate of the amount of radioactivity released per year through bananas
> shipped thru New York?"
>
> This finding (below) is not exactly an answer to the question, but
> presents an interesting sidelight. >>
>
> =====
>
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