RE: NY Times Editorial on Marie Curie

[Glen.Vickers@ucm.com]

One must remember that the leaches put on her forehead probably removed 30%
of the Radium.  See episode 439 of the "Simpson's" for a reference.

Seriously, how could someone of that time deduce that she died from exposure
to external/internal radiation?  I would like to see a "Probability of
Causation" calculation.  We must be careful about attaching numbers to this
case.  Numbers tend to imply precision and accuracy and I've never seen
facts to support such suppositions.

Sincerely,
Glen Vickers
glen.vickers@ucm.com <mailto:glen.vickers@ucm.com> 



	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Lavera, Ron [SMTP:Ron.Lavera@nypa.gov]
	Sent:	Wednesday, November 25, 1998 7:39 AM
	To:	Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:	RE: NY Times Editorial on Marie Curie

	Radiation killed Mme Curie.  She discovered Radium.  She had much
less
	Radium than expected.  She must have received less radiation than
	previously believed, therefore, this is another example of how the
	regulations don't protect us.  They should believe us when we say
that
	radiation is BAD !

	I believe that this is the mind set of the writer of the article.
The
	writer is probably not aware that, assuming that she died of a
radiation
	related illness, Mme. Curie worked with poorly shielded diagnostic
x-ray
	machines in research and WW-I medical support etc.

	I'm not sure if there was a breakdown in the communications loop,
i.e.
	was the writer informed of these other relevant facts, or should the
	writer have attempted to check into these type of issues before
	submitting the article.  Maybe the editor wanted it this way ?

	If any of the press types out there have any comments, I would be
very
	interested in hearing them.

	... mine and mine alone ...

	Ron LaVera
	lavera.r@nypa.gov

	-----Original Message-----
	From: RADPROJECT@aol.com [mailto:RADPROJECT@aol.com]
	Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 1998 12:12 AM
	To: Multiple recipients of list
	Subject: Re: NY Times Editorial on Marie Curie


	In a message dated 11/25/98 1:42:46 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
AIto@jfcr.or.jp
	writes:

	<< Mme Curie's internal dose due to radium has recently found to be
much
	 less than the maximum accepted concentration to the public. In
1995,
	Mme
	 Curie's coffin was moved to Pantheon to be given France's highest
	honour.
	 At that time, French Office of Ionization Radiation Control (ORPI)
had
	 measured radon concentration in her coffin. It was 360 Bq/m3 while
the
	 maximum accepted public concentration is 7000 Bq/m3. See further
	details
	 in the article entitled "X-rays, not radium, may have killed
Curie", 
	 Nature, Vol. 377, 14 September 1995 >>

	I don't understand the logic of  the above comparison. What does the
	concentration of radon in the air of Mme. Curie's coffin derived in
part
	from
	her Ra-226 body burden have to do with the  "maximum accepted public
	concentration" [of Rn-222 in air] being stated as 7000 Bq/m3?
Research
	going
	back many decades has documented that radon is exhaled in the breath
of
	a
	living being [or released from a body after death] in some
relationship
	to
	internal deposition, which could be used to back calculate the
Ra-226
	body
	burden. I haven't seen the the reference cited above, but will do so
	shortly,
	and the article may address the point I raise.

	However, it seems that the comment above related to the narrow point
of
	body
	burden vs. public ambient airborne radon exposure standards from
overall
	environmental sources of radon is mixing apples with oranges in
regard
	to the
	issue of what was the level of Mme. Curie's radium body burden and
dose,
	and
	if her radium body burden contributed in any way to her death.

	Stewart Farber
	Director - Radium Experiment Assessment Project
	19 Stuart St.
	Pawtucket, RI 02860

	Phone/FAX: (401) 727-4947  E-mail: radproject@usa.net

	            Web address: http://www.delphi.com/carsreap

	The Radium Experiment Assessment Project is a project of the Center
for
	Atomic
	Radiation Studies, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization


	
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