Case Body burden in disintegrating atoms per second Born 1900, drank 210 bottles of “Radithor” 63,640 in 1927[2] Born 1897, drank approximately 78 ounces of 32,780 “Radium Water” in 1932[2] Born 1925, worked as radium chemist since 14,800 1946 Born 1922, radium chemist for 7 years 7,000 Born 1898, two injections of “Thorotrast” 3,300 for X-ray diagnosis Born 1898, radium dial painter in watch 72,500 factory, 1918 to 1921 Born 1902, radium dial painter for 4½ months 1,924 in 1924 Scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, have attempted to improve crystal whole body counters so that they will be more useful in determining the amount of radium-226 in humans. Rolf Sievert at the Swedish Atomic Energy Commission also has studied the radium-226 detection. He devised a highly accurate whole body counter with 10 ion chambers arranged around a curved aluminum bed on which the subject rested. The instrument was installed below ground to reduce the interference of background radiation. [Illustration: Figure 11 _The spectrum of gamma radiation emitted by the body of a man three years after he accidentally inhaled radium-226. The solid line shows the normal radiation due to potassium-40, the dotted line the total from potassium-40 and radium-226._] Showing: COUNTS/MINUTE PER 95-KEV CHANNEL Subject G (total) Subject G (potassium-40) A NEW BODY CONTAMINANT In 1955, Charles E. Miller and L. D. Marinelli were measuring human potassium levels with the whole body counter at the Argonne laboratory. They were puzzled by finding several people who emitted 0.660-Mev gamma rays. Gamma rays of this energy, which are emitted by cesium-137, had not previously been detected in humans. To add to the perplexity, when the same persons were examined a few months later, the count of these gamma rays had increased. The Argonne findings indicated strongly that radiocesium, which is known to occur in fallout from nuclear explosions, was finding its way into people’s bodies. (See _Fallout from Nuclear Tests_, another booklet in this series.) INVESTIGATION OF FALLOUT CESIUM IN LAPLANDERS’ DIET [Illustration: _Long-lived radionuclides, particularly cesium-137, accumulate on plants._] [Illustration: _Reindeer herds graze on lichens and mosses._] [Illustration: _A substantial portion of the Laplanders’ diet is reindeer meat._] [Illustration: _Here personal data and eating habits are recorded for each person to be counted._] [Illustration: _A Laplander in a whole body counter._]