From: Jaro [mailto:jaro-10kbq@sympatico.ca]Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 7:51 AMTo: radsafe@radlab.nlSubject: RE: [ RadSafe ] New cancer weapon: nuclear nanocapsulesThanks very much for posting the link to the article.Very interesting research.But I notice an obvious error in the article :<quote>Astatine, like radium and uranium, emits alpha particles via radioactive decay. Alpha particles, which contain two protons and two neutrons, are the most massive particles emitted as radiation.<end quote>In Boron-Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), the radiation emitted in the induced Boron fission is an alpha particle (He4 nucleus) and a Lithium ion (Li7).Since Li7 is nearly double the mass of He4, it is *untrue* that "Alpha particles... are the most massive particles emitted as radiation."Also,<quote>"There are no FDA-approved cancer therapies that employ alpha-particle radiation," said lead researcher Lon Wilson, professor of chemistry. "Approved therapies that use beta particles are not well-suited for treating cancer at the single-cell level because it takes thousands of beta particles to kill a lone cell. By contrast, cancer cells can be destroyed with just one direct hit from an alpha particle on a cell nucleus."<end quote>This is unfortunately true, but it is simply stating that the US FDA hasn't approved BNCT.The way things are going, the US may be the last country in the world to approve BNCT -- right after Outer Mongolia.
-----Original Message-----
From: cdn-nucl-l-admin@mailman1.cis.McMaster.CA [mailto:cdn-nucl-l-admin@mailman1.cis.McMaster.CA]On Behalf Of Whitlock, Jeremy
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:01 PM
To: 'cdn-nucl-l@mailman.McMaster.CA'
Subject: [cdn-nucl-l] "Tiny radioactive particles can kill single cancer cells"
FYI:
--
Jeremy Whitlock
Manager, Non-Proliferation & Safeguards
AECL Chalk River Laboratories
office: 613-584-8811 ext.4265
cell: 613-639-5261
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