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Garret,
Another interesting thing to note is that military compasses and some
watches also use a radium paint. I had a compass in the Air Force and there
were specific instructions to dispose of the compass if the glass was
cracked.
One question, though. Do the same principles apply to tritium? Seems as if
a few years ago there was a push by the military to switch to tritium for
some applications. I do not know if speedos were included, but tritium is
used for night sights on some handguns.
Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: Garret Sawtell <sawtellg@dteenergy.com>
To: <mil-veh@uller.skylee.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Hmmwv Speedometer
> *This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
> The substance that glows in the dark is radium paint, commonly used in
> older
> military equipment. The major
> concern with opening anything containing this paint is not the direct
> radiation
> received from the paint, but rather
> the hazard if ingested. Years ago, people were hired to specifically
> hand paint
> equipment with this paint. One
> thing commonly practiced was 'tipping' the brush (forming a fine tip) by
> placing
> the brush in their mouths and drawing it
> out. Needless to say, there was a high number of cancer cases, mostly
> leukemia,
> because radium will go directly to the blood
> forming tissues in the bones of the human body. So Jason is absolutely
> correct in
> saying that these and any other meter
> poses a significant health risk if opened.
>
> Garret Sawtell
> Registered Radiation Protection Technologist and MV owner.
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 21 2000 - 18:15:02 PST