AW: "Uncontrolled" radiation in my youth [was Re: X-Rays at PodiatristOffice]

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

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

Von: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]Im Auftrag von Doug Aitken

Gesendet: Mittwoch, 10. März 2004 21:16

An: John Jacobus; Thomas M Lashley; Parry, Don (CIS)

Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; sloanpb@BELLSOUTH.NET

Betreff: "Uncontrolled" radiation in my youth [was Re: X-Rays at

PodiatristOffice]





At 05:46 AM 3/10/2004 -0800, John Jacobus wrote:

>..............

>Generally, the use of x-rays in podiatry is not

>routine, i.e., the patient does not get one every

>visit.



How things change! Growing up in the UK in the early '50s, I well remember

that the department store shoe department had a neat device that you stood

on and looked down at a "live" x-ray of your feet in your new shoes (to

check for fit). (I think it was called a "fluoroscope" or some such name).



Of course, for a kid, this was a big deal, to see the bones of your feet

wiggling around in the outline of your shoes! And we kids would spend a lot

of time on those machines. Even loved accompanying big sisters to the shoe

department, just so we could check out our feet.



Operator control???? Dose measurements??? I think the machine was on

constantly during store hours...



In the same period, I also had weekly doses of high-intensity UV from a

home UV lamp (a monster of German origin). This was pretty radical in those

days, but my family (along with our neighbors) were into that kind of

"cutting-edge" home therapy!)

I remember we had these neat little dark glasses (like mini-swimmers

goggles) that we had to wear to prevent our eyes getting blinded by the

intense light (and the cool stink of ozone the lamp generated!). All for

the good of my health.......



I seem to have come out of it without deleterious effects!



-------------------------------------------



Doug,



Your radiation history is similar to mine, except that my parents did not

allow me and my younger brother to see my (and his) toes in this apparatus.

I remember to have been very angry and that I envied my class mates, who

described joyfully their experience of seeing repeatedly their toes in

shoes. They even claimed that they pretended that shoes did not fit in order

to get another chance. But these were the good old days when children obeyed

to their parents..... My parents had neither a radiological nor an academic

eduction, and they were not involved in any "green" movement, which did not

exist at this time and not decades after.



The UV lamp was also for some time in use. I remember that the exposure time

was strictly limited. Furthermore it was intended for enhancing synthesis of

a vitamin (it might have been vitamin D), which is scientifically sound, and

not to create the impression of a Carribean holiday - which was anyway at

those times as far away as the moon.



Well, in the meantime mankind has been on the moon, a holiday in the

Carribean might be cheaper than (for us Europeans) one in Finland, Sweden,

Greece or Turkey, and the legislation for radiation protection has set

limits which in many cases are not or hardly measurable. What will our

children face?



Franz







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