Re: Workers Family Protection Act Info*

[mozley@darius.pet.upenn.edu (P. David Mozley)]

>A possible model, with quantitative data, might be obtained from the
>published surveys of family members of patients sent home after I-131
>therapy with substantial quantities of radioactivity on board (compared to
>occupational body burdens).  Although this is not a strict parallel with
>say contaminated clothing, a small percentage of iodine is secreted in
>sweat and saliva.
>
>Jocelyn Towson

Extrapolations from patients to professionals appear precarious.  Patients
have relatively high doses of beta emitters on board because they have a
life threatening disease. They accept many risks during the process of
diagnosis and treatment.  When they leave the hospital after radiotherapy,
they are still sick people because their thyroid hormone levels are too low
to support normal brain function. Sickness alters family relationships and
contacts. Comparisons with healthy professionals contaminated with trivial
quantities of gamma emitters may not have any face validity on several
levels.

The fundamental point remains that there is still no valid reason to
include nuclear medicine in the context of the Workers Family Protection
Act Info.