Radium in humans: A review of U.S. studies
This document was originally conceived as a description of the radium studies that took place at Argonne National Laboratory. It soon became evident, however, that to document the widespread use of radium, a brief review of the application of radium in medicine and in the US dial painting industry is required. Further, because the Argonne studies were not the only such efforts, brief overviews of the other radium programs are included. Even so, much material has been omitted. The extensive references included will allow the interested reader to find additional information. The effects of internally deposited radium in humans have been studied in this country for more than 75 years. Some 2,400 subjects have had their body contents of radium measured, and a majority of them have been followed for most of their adult lives, to understand and quantify the effects of radium. Many more individuals acquired radium internally but were never measured. Some of this group have been located and followed until death; in these cases the cause of death is known without a body content measurement. As a consequence of the efforts made to locate, measure, and follow exposed individuals, a great deal of information about the effects of radium is available. Nevertheless, great gaps remain in the knowledge of radium toxicity. The Argonne study is the largest every undertaken of the effects on humans of an internally deposited radioelement, in which the insult has been quantitated by actual measurements of the retained radioisotope. The study has now been terminated, even though more than 1,000 subjects with measured radium burdens are still alive. This document is written as a brief summary of current knowledge accumulated in this incomplete study.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 751062
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ER--3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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