RE: Radium -Reply

[Charles Willis <CAW@nrc.gov>]

Ron, 

I have toyed with the question of the probable doses received by Mme. Curie and
concluded that, in this instance, dose "reconstruction" is not likely to lead to a
useful result.  Clearly, the doses were highly non-uniform and quite sensitive to
laboratory conditions.  It seems likely that her effective dose equivalent would be
dominated by the lung doses from radon daughters, but she did not die of lung
cancer.  If there was a substantial internal dose, it might have been from radium,
but she did not die of bone sarcoma.  If the dominant doses were from external
sources, the principal concern would have been leukemia if she had died young, but
at age 66,  current risk estimates would lead us to expect "other cancer," if the
effect were radiogenic.  Still, it is often said that Mme. Curie died of radiogenic
leukemia but that is not the medical opinion.  Her doctors said that she died of
Pernicious Anemia (the inability of the intestines to absorb vitamin B-12) which, I
am told by the medical folk, would not have been confused with leukemia. 
Pernicious anemia, so far as we know today, is not radiogenic.

Thus, cause of death seems to shed little light on the question of dose, except to
suggest that she did not have a large body burden of radium.  Any inference that
might be made about lung dose is limited by the likelihood that she did not smoke.

Charlie Willis
caw@nrc.gov
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