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Answer to Question #6916 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"Category: Historical Issues/Applications The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field: Q
I collect World War II items and recently came across a rare German World War II field police gorget. This item seriously glows in the dark! In a dark room I can clearly read the newspaper in the glow from this close-up. Is this item a radiation hazard kept in-house or harmful if handled? I'm not sure if it's radium or another medium the Germans used on this. It looks painted on and glows green over a large surface, much, much larger than, for example, an instrument dial. I'm really worried. Please advise.
A
From your description of the item and the time frame involved, it is likely that the object was painted with a radioluminous paint containing radium. Such paints were commonly used on military items during WWII. Radium-containing radioluminescent paints deteriorate with age and bits of the paint flake off and contaminate the environment. If taken into the body, radium deposits in the skeleton and carries with it a risk of bone cancer, as was the case with the radium dial painters. It could well be that your gorget contains sufficient radium to be of concern and I recommend that you isolate it in a plastic bag that you seal or tape closed and contact your state health radiation control office for measurements and a radiological evaluation, which they will provide free of charge. Alternatively, the radiation safety officer at a nearby university may be able to help.
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