Radium Causes Slow Death

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 466, 22 September 1928, Page 27

Radium Causes Slow Death

(Continued from Page 26)

gamma rays were segregated and only the beneficent rays allowed to enter the tiny “seeds.” Now, what actually has happened to the unfortunate women was that they transformed their bodies into a

living apparatus in which the radium substance was permitted unrestricted freedom —walking radium laboratories in which the shooting atoms continually break through body cells, disturb the chemical balance therein and kick up havoc in general. Scientists do not know what actually happens within a human cell during the invasion of either of the three rays of radium. It is known, however, that the gamma rays used in cancer treatments will stimulate the growth of a fibrous protecting wall around diseased cells. But if it is applied too long it will burn up or destroy tissue as readily as that pariah of the radium family—the alpha ray. And if it is applied to the extent of irritation it will cause the very disease it has been found in some cases to "cure,” or arrest. The radium or X-ray treatment for disease. Dr. Weatherwax said, is readily controlled. There is no aftereffect and the body does not store up any of the ray particles. In the case of the victims of radium poisoning, he pointed out, the actual substance, according to testimony, had entered the bodies of the women and cannot be dislodged. Science has been unable to find a way of withdrawing those particles or of neutralising their effects. Even Mme. Curie, discoverer of radium, recently was reported to have said that their cases are hopeless. They will live until some vital function of the body is disturbed or interrupted. But scientists have learned a tragic lesson in the deaths of the pioneers. Even the smallest tube, or "seed,” of gamma rays is handled with forceps and as far away from the body as the arms will carry it. And when not in use the tiny objects are safely housed in lead containers of many inches in thickness.

For the gamma rays, travelling at the speed of light. 186,000 miles a second, have been known to pierce eight inches of lead and twelve inches of iron.