RE: report find radium raises risk of bone cancer in men

["Dukelow, James S Jr" <jim.dukelow@PNL.GOV>]

Gerald Nichols wrote:

-----Original Message-----

From: Gerald Nicholls [mailto:Gerald.Nicholls@dep.state.nj.us]

Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:03 AM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; sjd@swcp.com

Subject: Re: report find radium raises risk of bone cancer in men



   <snip>



The question that I asked was prompted by the identification of of

Ra-224 as the major contributor to gross alpha activity in water from

the local aquifer and what has been reported in the scientific

literature regarding the link between osteosarcoma and Ra-224 and

Ra-228.  Essentially, we asked "Do you see a higher incidence of

osteosarcomas in the populationd dependent for its water on this

aquifer?"  I was more concerned with private wells than public water

supplies because the is more time for decay to take place in water

systems (given the 3.6 day half life of Ra-224) than in private well

systems. 



Gerald Nicholls

NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection

609-633-7964



=====================



Regarding the greater concern about private wells:



I need to ask a naive question here.  If there is any Ra-224 (3.6 day half-life) in any water system, there has to be a source of that Ra-224.  For Ra-224, that source appears to be Th-228 (1.91 year half-life).  If the source and the progeny are in equilibrium, then decay of Th-228 will be replacing those Ra-224 atoms as rapidly as they decay away.  Why should community water systems be any different from private wells with respect to Ra-224 activity?



Regarding the NJ study:



The 2003 State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services study is clearly an ecological study with radium levels measured after the period when the osteosarcomas were registered.  There are no direct measures of exposure of the osteosarcoma cases and non-cases to their drinking water.  The results of similar studies in the literature, as described in the NJ study, are wildly inconsistent with respect to age and gender dependence of incidence and mortality rates.



Best regards.



Jim Dukelow

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Richland, WA

jim.dukelow@pnl.gov



These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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