Re: Radon

["Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>]

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

Von: Stokes, James <StokesJ@TTNUS.COM>

An: 'Jim Nelson ' <nelsonjima@HOTMAIL.COM>; 'paulwilliam_s@YAHOO.COM '

<paulwilliam_s@YAHOO.COM>; 'radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu '

<radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Datum: Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2001 20:15

Betreff: RE: Radon





The question to ask also, is what are the levels in the fertilizer used for

the crops.  That will be higher than the general soil.



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I have recently returned from holidays, therefore I have only now been able

to follow this thread.



I have been working for some time on the impact of natural occurring

radioactive material (NORM). This is how I came across the question of

radionuclides in tobacco and - more important - in smoke inhaled. I received

many valuable comments on that issue from other RADSAFErs and I think most

of them should be available on the archive, some have been sent to me

personally. If you are extremely interested in these comments, please

contact me strictly personally with what you are interested in.



There are quite a few studies available on Pb-210 and Po-210 in tobacco and

the effect of its content in fertilizers - done or financed mostly by the

tobacco companies. This shows that the companies were well aware of this

"problem". Looking at the doses caused by smoking might suggest, that the

inverted commas for "problem" are not justified..... Compared to other

sources for doses like nuclear power plants the doses due to tobacco smoking

are far higher. I do not think that the average person in the street wants

to recognize and acknowledge that.



Informations I have are on Pb-210 and Po-210. I cannot think of any

influence of thorium (it is not volatile) or any of its daughter products.

Thorium is not easily soluble and therefore I do not expect that it will be

taken up by the tobacco plant to any significant extent. Therefore we can

forget about thorium and its daughters. We have to take into account the

radiotoxicity.



Franz







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