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Natural radionuclides in human hair

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Handbook of hair in health and disease

Part of the book series: Human Health Handbooks no. 1 ((HHH,volume 1))

Abstract

Naturally occurring radionuclides of terrestrial origin, such as 238U, 235U, 226Ra, 210Po and 210Pb, are present to various degrees in all environmental media, including the human body. Like other pollutants, many natural radioactive substances also accumulate in hair. In this article, the transfer to human scalp hair and typical concentrations in hair are presented for some natural radionuclides. Uranium is a primordial radioactive element ubiquitously present in the Earth’s crust. Natural uranium consists of a mixture of three radioactive isotopes: 238U (99.2745% by mass), 235U (0.7200%) and 234U (0.0054%). All three isotopes are α-emitters with very long half-lives. In addition to uranium isotopes, 226Ra, 210Po and 210Pb are taken into account. They occur widely in the natural environment as they are part of the 238U decay chains. All these radionuclides are transferred from the environment to the human body via inhalation and the ingestion of foodstuffs and water. The intake of natural radionuclides varies depending on the diet and residential location. Consequently, the concentrations in human hair vary greatly. The concentrations of uranium, 210Pb and 210Po in human hair have been observed to vary between <0.5-140,000 ng/g, 0.7-10 mBq/g and 0.4-59.3 mBq/g, respectively. Natural variation in the transfer of natural radionuclides into hair complicates the use of hair as an accurate bioindicator.

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Abbreviations

IAEA:

International Atomic Energy Agency

ICRP:

International Commission on Radiological Protection

ST0:

Rapid-turnover soft tissue compartment

ST1:

Intermediate turnover soft tissue compartment

ST2:

Slow turnover soft tissue compartment

UNEP:

United Nations Environmental Program

UNSCEAR:

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental research laboratory, STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, P.O. Box 14, 00881, Helsinki, Finland

    Maarit Muikku

  2. Department of Medical Radiation Physics and Diagnostics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Weibo Li

Authors
  1. Maarit Muikku
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  2. Weibo Li
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Correspondence to Maarit Muikku .

Editor information

Victor R. Preedy PhD DSc FRSPH FIBiol FRCPath

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© 2012 Wageningen Academic Publishers

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Muikku, M., Li, W. (2012). Natural radionuclides in human hair. In: Preedy, V.R. (eds) Handbook of hair in health and disease. Human Health Handbooks no. 1, vol 1. Wageningen Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-728-8_16

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