Re: Radium's Use in Medicine

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

          Peter:

          There is a ton of literature on this subject available. My
          single favorite is Ed Landa's "Buried Treasure to Buried
          Waste; the Rise and Fall of the Radium Industry" Colorado
          School of Mines Quarterly Vol 82 # 2, summer 1987.

          The best references on Radithor are Roger Macklis's "The
          Great Radium Scandal" Sci. American Aug 1993 and the
          articles he wrote in JAMA Aug. 1, 1990 Vol 264 # 5.

          Radium brachytherapy sources are still being used in
          medicine, in the US and elsewhere.

          In the US, the death of Eben Byers in 1932 pretty much
          signalled the time when people stopped ingesting/injecting
          radium.

          Revigators and other emanators were used to add radon,
          rather than radium, to drinking water. I have a device from
          1965 that contained ca. 300 uCi of ra-226 and was sold for
          this purpose. The manufacturer noted that "in the emanation
          of radon gas, it is only the GAS we use, NOT THE METALLIC
          ELEMENT" i.e. radium and that "the current generation of
          professional men have ben "brain washed" by all the
          bureaucratic screaming about fallout"


                                      Paul Frame