Mumbai: It has been found that a few hospitals and other users have still not surrendered radium to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
It has been 18 years since Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) issued a directive to this effect, a former senior AERB official said.
Radium was the most hazardous radioactive source used in medicine.
Those who have not yet surrendered radium (once used in cancer therapy) could be exposing themselves and other unsuspecting persons to potential radiation risks.
A family in Kolkata in 2003 had obtained help from AERB to dispose off their "inherited" radium stock as they realized it was risky to keep it, former secretary of AERB, K S Parthasarathy, reported.
Parthasarathy said many more such cases could be there in the country and they all should come forward to surrender.
Extensive study of radium dial painters showed that retention of a microgram of radium in the human body caused harmful effects such as cancer.
AERB had directed its withdrawal and replacement with safer substitute in 1988, taking into account its proven toxicity and the deplorable safety status in hospitals handling radium.
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