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20 March 2010

Answer to Question #757 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Historical Issues/Applications

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

When did the International Commission on Radiological Protection begin publishing recommendations on radiation exposure and related matters? When was the radioactive isotope first used for therapy by John H. Lawrence? When did the first products for using radiation to sterilize surgical sutures reach the market?

The original name of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) was the International Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection. It was formed in 1928 and its first recommendations regarding radiation protection were published that year. In 1936, John Lawrence employed ³²P, produced at the Berkeley accelerator, to treat leukemia. The first products for using radiation to sterilize surgical sutures was done in Scotland in 1955 by thicon (Johnson and Johnson) for catgut sutures. Paul Frame, PhD, CHP

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