Radioactive Dinner Plates
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The former owner of this plate died from cancer.
She was quite elderly at the time of death.
It is hard to know whether eating from these plates or having them in her
cabinet shortened her life. She did have a collection of the plates.
The
x-ray
film below was left inside its envelop
for the five days that it was placed under the plate.
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The plate above "took its own picture" by just being placed on an envelop
of x-ray film for five days. The plate's
mark
is shown below the x-ray.
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Below is the mark on the bottom of the old dinner plate. These
have not been manufactured since prior to World War II, but many people
still collect and use them. Most colors such as browns, blues, and
greens, would have no need to contain uranium and are not likely radioactive.
Disclaimer
The author of this page offers only limited evidence
and experience in these matters. You should not assume anything about
other yellow, orange, or red colored glazes on old pottery unless they
are tested or reliably labeled.
Back to
Hazards
in Ceramics
page
Posted by Marvin Bartel. E-mail:
marvinpb@goshen.edu
Updated: Sept. 9, 2001
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