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Re: Alarms at Borders



Has anyone determined how much this is costing?



--- "Mccormick, Luke I" <luke.mccormick@dhs.gov>

wrote:



> 

> 

> 

> 

> Please spread the word. Our Operating Directive

> states that each radiation

> detection at a border will be investigated and

> resolved. Most all Customs

> Officers wear pagers and we use a huge number of

> passive radiation

> detectors in the form of portal monitors, cargo

> scanning devices, etc.

> Everyone who sets off an alarm crossing the border

> is sent to secondary

> until the Officers have determined if they are

> ligitimate.

> Many, but not all nuclear medicine departments are

> providing patients with

> letters explaining that the patients have received a

> radiopharmaceutical

> and if we have questions to call the

> doctor/clinic/hospital.For those

> carrying the documents we simpy verify that the

> office is ligitimate and

> call to verify that the person was a patient there.

> We can identify many of

> the radiopharmaceuticals by thier spectrum on site.

> These people pass

> through pretty quickly. The people who don't have

> the documentation are

> asked for the doctor/clinic name and we do the same

> thing but  most do not

> know the phone number of the clinic so they may be

> detained for quite a

> while until we get everything straightened out. If

> you are a patient or

> work at a nuc. med. facility, please make sure that

> the paperwork is given

> to the patients and travel restrictions may cause

> them some delays.

> Luke McCormick

> 

> ____________________Reply

> Separator____________________

> Subject:    RE: question concerning stress tests

> Author:     owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

> Date:       1/12/2005 12:28 PM

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

>        Hal  & Phil,

> 

>        Patients ARE setting off alarms NOW.  Happens

> a lot at the

>        NY/Canadian border, day trippers coming back.

>  I heard one

>        instance on the  Mexican California border

> near San Diego.  So

>        far it seems the detectors  are set up at

> borders and customs

>        stations in airports.

> 

> 

>        Any opinions in this e-mail are solely those

> of the author, and

>        are not represented as those of the VA

> Eastern Colorado HCS,

>        the Dept. of  Veterans Affairs, or the US

> Government.

> 

>        Peter G. Vernig, Radiation Safety  Officer,

> MS-115, VA Eastern

>        Colorado Health Care System, 1055 Clermont

> St.  Denver, CO

>        80220, peter.vernig@med.va.gov, Phone=

> 303.399.8020 x2447; Fax

>        =  303.393.5026, alternate fax, 303.393.5248

> 

>        "...whatever is true, whatever  is noble,

> whatever is lovely,

>        whatever is admirable, if anything is found

> to be  excellent or

>        praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these

> things."

> 

>        Paul of  Tarsus

> 

>        -----Original Message-----

>        From:  owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

>        [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On

> Behalf Of Careway,

>        Harold  A. (GE Energy)

>        Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 9:30  AM

>        To: Radsafe (E-mail)

>        Subject: FW: question concerning  stress

> tests

> 

> 

>        Phil sent:

> 

>        Exposures from nuclear stress tests can be 

> considerable, at

>        least to those of us who have to explain and

> justify every

>        last millirem to regulators and activists.

> 

>        Several years ago I had a stress  test and

> made some post

>        treatment measurements with a Bicron MicroR 

> meter.

> 

>        Injections of 30 mCi of Tc-99m and  4 mCi of

> Tl-201 result in a

>        cumulative dose of ~600 mrem.  Seven (7) 

> hours after

>        treatment, the exposure rate was 17 mR/hr in

> contact with the

>        stomach and 20 microR/hr (twice background)

> at 30 feet.

>        Exposure rate  at stomach level after 2 days

> was ~2 mR/hr, and

>        after 7 days was ~0.5  mR/hr.   After 3

> weeks, exposure rates

>        were indistinquishable from  background.

> 

>        Yes, at those levels, a lot of  patients are

> going to be

>        setting of the increasing number of post 9/11

>  radiation

>        monitors in airports, borders, etc.

> 

>        See

> http://www.philrutherford.com/Stress_Test_2003.pdf

> for

>        charts of exposure vs. distance and time.

> 

>        Interestingly enough, when I asked the

> nuclear  technician who

>        administered the radiopharmaceuticals, how

> much exposure I

>        would receive, he said "Oh, about the same as

> a chest X-ray

>        (~10 mrem)."   I do not know whether that was

> simple ignorance

>        or deliberate  misinformation.

> 

>        Phil

> 

>       

>

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

>        ------------------

> 

>        I  had the same experience when I went for my

> Cardolite test -

>        the technician was  able to tell me the

> activity dose I was

>        receiving (30 mCi of Tc-99m) but not  my

> whole body or

>        effective dose in mR or mSv.  It was like he

> never heard  of

>        such a thing and really made me angry.  

> Latter I estimated

>        that  between the two doses I received (1PM

> in the afternoon

>        and a second dose at  8AM the next morning) I

> picked up

>        somewhere between 1600-1800 mR  integrated.

> 

>        I  continued to register above background on

> my Xetex 308A

>        until three days after  the procedure and the

> first day I could

>        set the detector off from 15 feet  outside my

> office, what fun.

> 

> 

>        Hal  Careway

> 

> 

> 

> .

> 

> 

>

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> 





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"It doesn't matter whether you're riding an elephant or a donkey if you're going in the wrong direction."

Jesse Jackson





-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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