Measurement of alpha radioactivity and dose assessment in common food crops with SSNTD.

Radioactivity is present everywhere in the environment including soil, from where it transfers to vegetation and plants. These vegetations when taken as food result in transfer of the radioactivity to human beings which may cause health hazards. Thus information about the presence of radioactivity in vegetation, plants and soil is highly desirable.

Assessment of alpha radioactivity in lipstick, nailpolish, toothpaste and vermilion using CR-39 detector.

Human beings are always exposed to radiation from chemical cosmetics. In order to collect information regarding the radioactivity of chemical cosmetics used in our daily life, we studied the alpha radioactivity in different cosmetics samples, such as lipsticks, nail-polish, toothpaste and vermilion. The significant accumulation ofradionuclide in and on the tissues, directly or indirectly exposed due to the lipsticks, toothpaste, vermilion, may cause health hazards.

Assessment of alpha activity of building materials commonly used in West Bengal, India.

This paper, reports for the first time, an extensive study of alpha activity of all widely used building materials (plaster of Paris, stone chips, marble, white cement, mosaic stone, limestone, sand, granite, cement brick, asbestos, red brick, cement tile, ceramic tile and ceramics) in West Bengal, India. The alpha activities have been measured using Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD), a very sensitive detector for alpha particles. The samples were collected from local markets of Kolkata.

Measurement of natural radioactivity in chemical fertilizer and agricultural soil: evidence of high alpha activity.

People are exposed to ionizing radiation from the radionuclides that are present in different types of natural sources, of which phosphate fertilizer is one of the most important sources. Radionuclides in phosphate fertilizer belonging to 232Th and 238U series as well as radioisotope of potassium (40K) are the major contributors of outdoor terrestrial natural radiation. The study of alpha activity in fertilizers, which is the first ever in West Bengal, has been performed in order to determine the effect of the use of phosphate fertilizers on human health.