wolit (01/26/83)
It was reported on the news yesterday that the New York State Health Dept. had found that certain types of "cloisonne" glazed ceramic jewelry imported from Taiwan were found to contained levels of uranium (in the glaze) that posed a potential radiation safety hazard over a long-term exposure. Out of curiosity, I borrowed a Geiger counter from work and checked three pieces of my fiancee's cloisonne jewelry with it. On one of them, I THINK I was able to detect a slight increase over the background level. The meter registered about 30 - 50 counts/minute, or about 0.01 - 0.02 "MR/HR" (milli-REM? milli-roentgen? other?). My question, to any health physicists out there, is, is this a level I should be concerned about? Should I toss the jewelry just to be safe, as the NYS Health Commissioner recommended? (It is only worth about $10, but, then again, I wouldn't want to throw it out unless necessary.) Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill, (201) 582-2998, ... rabbit!wolit