Radiodermatitis from a wedding ring . Image : Miller and Aldrich
, J
Am Acad Derm , 1990 ; 23:360-2 . Why was the gold radioactive ? There are a number of explanations for what happened . Some may even be correct .
1 . Radon was the culprit Miller and Aldrich , writing in J Am Acad Derm ( 1990
), concluded that the cancers were attributable to the radon gas that was used to fill hollow gold seeds that were used at that time for brachytherapy to treat prostate and other internal cancers . But , the seeds were later ( and illegally ) melted down and sold as normal gold
. The radon , which came along for the ride , caused the radioactivity disease . 2 . Gold-198 , a radioactive isotope , was the culprit
A 2010 article on the Gold Refining Forum website ( just in case you missed it ) disputes the first conclusion , claiming it is unlikely that radon gas would stilll be around after melting the gold seeds ( the melting point of gold is 1, 948 o F ). It is hard to argue with this . Instead
, the site
198
claims the real culprit was an unstable gold isotope Au , which could be formed from the nuclear reaction of stable 197 Au with radon . 3 . I don ' t love either explanation . The problem with # 1 was nailed by the
Gold Refining
Forum . It is hard to imagine any way thatt radon – a gas at room temperature – ( or any other gas ) would remain at a temperature of 1 , 948 o F , the melting point of gold . Gases don
' t like high temperatures . ( You are just as likely to find a woolly mammoth in there ). No radon , no radioactivity from it .