Re: Uranium in the Glaze of Fiestaware

[rkathren@tricity.wsu.edu (ron kathren)]

Al --

And I might add that the chemical toxicity of natural uranium exceeds that
of the radiological hazard and hence the standards are based on chemical
toxicity.

Ron Kathren 


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>At 09:40 07.06.1996 -0500, you wrote:
>>I follow the thread of this subject with interest, some amusement and a lot
>>of concern.  When I was young (a long time ago) my family had a large set=
> of
>>fiestaware.  Of all of the seven or eight colors in that set, only the
>>orange one was radioactive (I discovered much later).  However, we did not
>>know about that at the time.  We used the set routinely for lunch and=
> dinner
>>(supper).  When the set was not in use it was stored in a cabinet in such a
>>manner that no one could have been exposed to any radiation from the orange
>>plates and cups and saucers.  So the exposure only occurred when the set=
> was
>>in use, about an hour a day for fifteen or twenty years.  None of my family
>>suffered any ill effects from either the radioactive material, if any, that
>>got into the food, or the radiation from the surface.  I estimate in
>>retrospect that I, and each member of my family,  might have received a
>>total effective dose equivalent over the twenty years of at most 75 mrem,
>>and a skin dose of 730 mrad.  These doses cannot be harmful!!!!!!!!!!!  My
>>concern is that we are talking about this at all.  Fiestaware is neither a
>>hazard nor a risk.  No one should be told not to use it.  We do ourselves
>>and the public (to say nothing about the legislators and regulators) a huge
>>disservice when we even suggest using something like fiestaware is at all
>>risky.  Maybe the food one eats from the fiestaware might be risky if one
>>ate too much.  But the doses one might get from using fiestaware are too
>>small to even think about.  Simply because the surface dose rate is
>>measurable doesn't mean that the dose one might get is significant.  Dose=
> is
>>what counts, not dose rate.  But you all know that.  I guess most of this=
> is
>>opinion, but it is informed opinion I believe.  Al Tschaeche xat@inel.gov
>>
>>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
>=3D
>
>I am not afraid of the dose from any uranium glazed item. I have myself a
>collection of beautifully uranium-stained glasses, which I do not use for
>drinking - not because I am afraid from their radiation, but because they
>are almost all more than 100 years old and I=B4m afraid they could get
>broken... I once went into a antiquity shop where I had seen a beautiful
>green glass. I told the vendor to put it aside for me, because I would come
>back to check it with my contamination monitor for radioactivity. Since he
>didn=B4t understand I told him I would check it, because if uranium was used
>it would be radioactive: He was somehow frightened, but he got even more
>confused, when I told him I would only buy it, if it really was radioactive!
>It was and I bought it.
>
>
>B U T :
>
>Isn=B4t the main principle in radiation protection : A L A R A ? As low as
>reasonable achievable? What is easier to achieve than to use tiles and
>tableware that does not contain uranium? All the beautiful colours which in
>older times only could be achieved by using uranium can now be produced by
>other means, so there is really no necessity to use uranium any more.
>
>As an Austrian, I do not have this problem: The use of uranium in glaze and
>tiles is forbidden since long in Austria.=20
>
>Uranium is not only a radiotoxic element, but it is also chemically toxic
>when ingested. (I have no figures at hand, how much can be leached by for
>instance vinegar.) In Austria lead containing glazes are also forbidden
>because of chemical toxicity.
>
>Has anyone thought of workers who produce the glaze, tiles and tableware?
>What doses might they have been exposed to? Probably to higher ones than the
>user of the finished product, who might receive negligible doses!
>
>Franz Schoenhofer
>Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
>Vienna, AUSTRIA
>Schoenhofer
>Habichergasse 31/7
>A-1160 Wien
>Tel./Fax:	+43-1-4955308
>Tel.:		+43-664-3380333
>e-mail:		schoenho@via.at
>
>
>