Radiation poisoning

DNA damage causing abnormalities in body chemical and physiological reactions 

Populations All persons with job-related exposure to radio- 

Bowel movements - diarrhea Consciousness - loss, sudden (syncope) Dehydration 

local - loss Hair, gen - loss Mentation - confusion [ 1 ] 

gingiva - bleeding Mouth, gingiva - ulcers Mouth, mucosa - ulcers Muscles - weak Nausea 

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Alkali AletalIodides. Potassium iodide [7681-11-0] KI, mol wt 166.02, mp 686°C, 76.45% I, forms colorless cubic crystals, which are soluble in water, ethanol, methanol, and acetone. KI is used in animal feeds, catalysts, photographic chemicals, for sanitation, and for radiation treatment of radiation poisoning resulting from nuclear accidents. Potassium iodide is prepared by reaction of potassium hydroxide and iodine, from HI and KHCO, or by electrolytic processes (107,108). The product is purified by crystallization from water (see also Feeds and feed additives Photography). 

Cesium-137, with a half-life of about 30 years, produces dangerous radiation and can cause radiation poisoning if mishandled. It is used to sterilize wheat, potatoes, and other foods to protect them from insect damage and rotting. It is also used to kill bacteria in the treatment of sewage sludge. 

Some compounds, such as strontium chromate and strontium fluoride, are carcinogens and toxic if ingested. Strontium-90 is particularly dangerous because it is a radioactive bone-seeker that replaces the calcium in bone tissue. Radiation poisoning and death may occur in people exposed to excessive doses of Sr-90. Strontium-90, as well as some other radioisotopes that are produced by explosions of nuclear weapons and then transported atmospherically, may be inhaled by plants and animals many miles from the source of the detonation. This and other factors led to the ban on atmospheric testing of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. 

The hazards of technetium are the same as for all radioactive elements. Excessive exposure to radiation can cause many kinds of tissue damage—from sunburn to radiation poisoning to death. 

Prize in 1962.) Madame Curie died from radiation poisoning that resulted from her work with radioactive elements. 

Being an inert gas, krypton is nontoxic. However, the man-made radioisotopes of krypton can cause radiation poisoning. 

The dust and powder of thulium are explosive and toxic if inhaled or ingested. As with all radioactive elements, thuhum can cause radiation poisoning. 

All compounds as well as metallic uranium are radioactive—some more so than others. The main hazard from radioactive isotopes is radiation poisoning. Of course, another potential hazard is using fissionable isotopes of uranium and plutonium for other than peaceful purposes, but such purposes involve pohtical decisions, not science. 

Plutonium is by far one of the most toxic radioactive poisons known. The metal, its alloys, and its compounds must be handled in a shielded and enclosed glove box that contains an inert argon atmosphere. It is a carcinogen that can cause radiation poisoning leading to death. 

All the isotopes and compounds of americium are deadly sources of radiation and cause radiation poisoning and death. Precautions must be taken when working with it. The small amount of americium-241 found in smoke detectors in household smoke alarms is harmless unless the isotope is removed and swallowed. 

Californium s greatest danger is as a biological bone-seeking radioactive element, which can be both a radiation hazard and a useful treatment for bone cancer. If mishandled, all of californium s isotopes and compounds can be a potential radiation poison. 

Similar to all artificially produced radioisotopes that go through natural decay process or spontaneous fission, mendelevium is an extreme radiation hazard. There is so little of it in existence and produced annually that there is no risk of individual or public radiation poisoning. 

Although the isotopes of ununpentium (element 115) are radioactive, there is not much risk of radiation poisoning since there are so few atoms produced. 

Figure 4.4 "The Radium Girls" were women in 1920s New Jersey who painted watch faces with radium, an element that glows in the dark. Because the women were in constant contact with the radioactive element, they experienced numerous health problems years later. Some even died because of radiation poisoning.

As more details about incinerated cities, terrible burns, and radiation poisoning became public, a sense of guilt was added to the scientists other concerns. Wasn t it immoral to develop this weapon What had they done ... 

Chin, F.K.C. (2007). Scenario of a dirty homh in an urban environment and acute management of radiation poisoning and injuries. Singapore Med. J. 48 950-7. 

The severe health effects of exposure to Polonium-210 became frontpage news in 2006 when former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died. Litvinenko (44), who had sought political asylum in Great Britain in 2000, fell ill in November of 2006 and died several weeks later due to severe radiation poisoning. The source of the poisoning was a mystery and his death was investigated as a murder. 

The nuclide I undergoes beta decay with a half-life of 8.041 days. Large quantities of this nuclide were released into the environment in the Chernobyl accident. A victim of radiation poisoning has absorbed 5.0 X 10 g (5.0 fig) of... 

Rad/thor.This radioactive liquid sold as a patent medicine in the late 1920s ultimately led to the user s slow and painful death from radiation poisoning. 

Chickenpox Colchicine poisoning Meningococcemia Radiation poisoning Psittacosis Rubella... 

Osmium tetroxide poisoning, 367-370 Phosphine poisoning, 375-379 Radiation poisoning, 380-383 Ricin poisoning, 384-387 Salmonellosis, 199-202 Shigellosis, 206-209... 

Arsine poisoning, 289-292 Benzene poisoning, 297-300 Colchicine poisoning, 321-324 Cyanide poisoning, 325-329 Malaria, 133-137 Meningococcemia, 146-150 Parvovirus B19, 163-166 Radiation poisoning, 380-383 Typhoid fever, 232-236... 

In the early years of working with radioactive substances, no one understood the dangers of exposure to radiation or took the precautions we take today to minimize exposure. On July 4,1934, Marie Curie succumbed to a lifetime of radiation poisoning. 

Ionizing radiation carries enough energy to remove an electron, thus turning an atom into an ion. These events can be very damaging to life because they alter the chemistry of important molecules like DNA. Very high exposure can cause radiation poisoning. 

Acute exposure of large doses may cause radiation poisoning or radiation burns. Chronic exposure may result in cancer or mutations in one s children due damage to DNA. Organs with rapidly dividing cells such as bone marrow, intestines, and gonads are most vulnerable. Some effects do not appear until several years have passed. 

With such a history, it is not surprising that even medical x-rays and radiotherapy generate fears, sometimes hysteria, about radiation poisoning. No nuclear power stations have been built in the United States since the late 1970s. The existence of a safe radiation dose has been debated for decades without consensus. As one expert puts it, the most practical approach is to limit human exposure to ionizing radiation and hope for the best. 

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