Skin Contact Transfer of Tritium from Brass

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Abstract
The studies reported here show that contact of skin with contaminated metal can facilitate the transfer of tritium, that the radioactivity absorbed onto the skin enters the body water, and that it follows the metabolic pattern of tritium entering by other modes. Tritium in the skin was determined after converting all forms to tritiated water by dry combustion. Standardized exposures were checked by liquid scintillation counting. Curves for the disappearance of tritium in the skin could be resolved into 0.3, 3 and 14 day half-times, and after 15 days there was little difference between wet and dried tissues. The accumulative excretion curves, based on the measured half-time value of 5.5 days for urine radioactivity, showed that substantially all of the skin radioactivity can be accounted for in body water by 28 days. Special methods were developed for assaying tritium reliably at a minimum level of 2 x 10-3[mu]c.