The Consequences of Ingestion by Man of Real and Simulated Fallout

Abstract

Real and simulated particulate fallout and solutions of 85SrCl2 and 134CsCl were fed to 102 healthy volunteers. Absorption and retention of ingested radioactivity was measured by whole-body counting using the gamma-ray spectrometer at the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital. An average of 3 per cent of the radioactivity of week-old local fallout was absorbed: the range was 0–9 per cent. Strontium and cesium leached or dissolved from simulated fallout behaved in the same way, metabolically, after absorption as they did when the tracer was swallowed in a solution or injected intravenously. The large number of subjects studied provided additional information on the range of variation of intestinal motility, biological availability of strontium, cesium and barium following ingestion of fallout, and etention of the radionuclides of these elements.