Health risk assessment of natural and artificial radionuclides in medicinal plants

Abstract

In the present work, we determined activity concentrations of ten Medicinal herbs using gamma spectrometry. The radioactivity concentration of 226 Ra, 232 Th, 40 K and 137 Cs were 2.82, 0.63, 984.32, 0.28 Bq/kg, respectively. These doses are not hazardous to the general public's health. The mean values of radium equivalent activity (Raeq), absorbed dose rates (D), annual effective dose (De) and external hazard index (Hex) are 79.51 Bq/kg, 42.73 nGy-1 , 52.40 µSv and 0.21, respectively. Medicinal plants used to make tea do not contain a concentration of tested radionuclides that would cause negative consequences to one's health.

An In-Depth Examination of the Natural Radiation and Radioactive Dangers Associated with Regularly Used Medicinal Herbs

“…Our findings in the case of 40 K significantly greater than those from Iraq [45], Turkey [50] and Nigeria [53] but sig cantly lower than those from Iraq [47], South India [46], Ghana [2], Jordan [49], Nigeria and Turkey [51].The discrepancies in natural radioactivity concentrations between co tries might be explained by the raw material sources (Figure 5). In a real sense, the current results show that the amount of 238 U in the air is much higher than in Iraq [45], South India [46], Jordan [49], Turkey [50], Nigeria [53], Serbia [54], Turkey [51], and lower than amounts obtained in Iraq [47], Ghana [2], Bangladesh [48], and Nigeria [53]. The results of 232 Th show that our result is higher than the results found in Iraq [45], South India [46], Nigeria [52], Jordan [49] and Turkey [50] and is lower than the results found in Iraq [47], Ghana [2] and Nigeria [53].…”