Answer to Question #2715 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

What are the risks and long-term effects of working in a nuclear medicine laboratory? I will be working in an ultrasound room, not directly handling radiopharmaceuticals such as thallium, but my office opens into the lab where the chemicals and equipment are stored. Every day I will be walking in, out, and throughout this lab and I am very concerned that the background radiation over time may have ill effects on my reproductive system.

A

The potential long-term effects associated with working in nuclear medicine are dependent upon the amount of radiation dose someone might receive. In general, an individual needs to be close to unshielded radioactive materials or to the patients right after they have been injected to receive any dose at all. It is unlikely that simply walking through a lab with radioactive materials would lead to any measurable increase in your background radiation dose or have any effects on your reproductive system. Each year, we receive about 360 mrem from radiation sources in our environment—about 1 mrem per day. These include cosmic radiation, natural radioactivity in the soil, natural radioactive materials in our bodies, medical exposures, and radon. A person who works in nuclear medicine handling the radioactive materials and scanning the patients receives about 200-400 mrem per year occupationally. So, for someone walking through the area, there is little, if any risk. In fact, there are no identifiable cases of an individual having been affected adversely by preconception exposure of the parent to radiation. Kelly Classic Certified Medical Health Physicist