Evening star., 1950-04-07
Hot Element Nay Prove.
To Be Valued Medicine
Atomic Energy Workers Tell
Of Astortine Experiments
By Thomos R. Henry

By Thomas R. Henry
The strange new hot" element astar-
tine may prove Q valuable medicine.
A report Just received from Atomic
Energy Commission workers at the COM
missions radiation laboratory At the Uni.
versity of California indicates that this
artificially produced substance concen-
trates in the thyroid gland and has An
extremely destructive effect.
This may even exceed the destrue-
tiveness of radioactive iodine and does
not damage nearby tissues. such as the
parathyroid gland. The experiments
. to date have been carried out only with
rats and there Is no information as to
the reaction in humans or the possible
poisonous effects.
Closely Related to Iodine.
Astartine is one of the Ave elements
OF the so-called "halogen" group and
is quite closely related TO iodine itself.
fluorine. chlorine and bromine. II Is
one OF the hottest Of the elements.
emitting radiation which contains
the highly destructive alpha particles.
1t has a half life Of less than eight hours.
This means that half of any given num-
Der OF astartine atoms will have exploded
in that period, half the remainder in
another eight hours. and so on to infinity.
There may have been considerable
amounts present in the beginning.
but half OF 1t had disappeared in the
first eight hours after creation. In
two or three billion years 1t has been
reduced to perhaps an atom or two in
all creation. 1t has never been OBJ
served in nature.
About six years ago It was created
artiflcially by the bombardment Of the
common element bromine in the Uni
versity Of California cyclotron and now
can be made In appreciable quantities.
It's similarity TO iodine was recos-
nized quite early but there have not
been sufficient amounts available for
medical experiments.
Report on Experiments.
The present experiments are reported
by Dr. j. G. Hamilton and his associates
OF the radiation laboratory. They in
jected minute amounts Of astartine into
white rats Eighteen hours later they
determined that from two to eight per
cent of the amount injected had been
concentrated in the thyroids and that
IAN extreme degree" of destruction was
present. They could find no evidence Of
involvement Of nearby tissues. such ~
the parathyroids.
The value of q radioactive isotope of
iodine in treatment Of thyroid disorders
has been demonstrated but remains. in
some respects. quite debatable. Early
high hopes have not been entirely
upheld.
The findings are significant from the
fact that this is the first of the artificial
elements, aside from plutonium for
which some practical use now II In
dicated.
Various cyanides. generally considered
deadly poisons. may prove effective radi-
alton .antidotes This is indicated by
reports Of French workers. a resume Of
which has Just been issued by the Atomic
Energy Commission.
Drs. z. M. Bacq and A. Nerve worked
with mice subjected to lethal doses Of
X-rays. When an extremely small
amount Of sodium cyanide. about .
enth-thousandth OF a gram. was ad-
ministered Just before the X-radiation
the mortality. which otherwise would
certainly have been 100 per cent. was
reduced to 80 per cent. ..- =
Given Immediately after the irradia-
ton, however, the treatment only de-
layed death three or four days. All tbs
animals eventually died. After q delay
Of is minutes there was no effect at oil.
Similar Compound Failure.
A similar compound. sulfur cyanide.
proved q complete failure when given
before irradiation and seemed actually
to augment the death rate when given
Just afterwards TO mice subjected to less
than the completely lethal X-ray dose.
Presumably, there would be similar
effects with the extremely powerful
gamma radiation from atomic explosions,
although there Is no certainty that men
would react In the same way as mice.
The protective action Of the cyanides-
nitrogen-carbon preparations-ha to do
with the internal chemistry Of the body
cells. the French workers believe. The
primary cause Of radiation deaths and
the dreaded sickness still is obscure.
One effect of over-radiation. however.
is believed to be the formation Of pois-
onous chemical substances-so-called
peroxides-within the cells. This re-
action apparently takes place imme- ,
diately. although its effects may not b
felt for some time. Presence OF the
cyanides. especially sodium cyanide. In
some way prevents these chemical re-
actions the French workers believe.