Researcher: Pollen mask prevents cesium inhalation

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A type of mask sold in drugstores for hay-fever sufferers may also prove effective in preventing internal exposure to radioactive cesium, a researcher at the University of Tokyo said.

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By AKIKO OKAZAKI / Staff Writer
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Researcher: Pollen mask prevents cesium inhalation
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A type of mask sold in drugstores for hay-fever sufferers may also prove effective in preventing internal exposure to radioactive cesium, a researcher at the University of Tokyo said.

Shogo Higaki, who specializes in radiochemistry at the university's Radioisotope Center, said on Nov. 30 that he compared levels of cesium that became attached to airborne pollen and dust with levels of cesium on the surface of a three-dimensional, nonwoven pollen mask he wore from 3 p.m. on March 15 to 9 a.m. on March 16.

The results show that the mask almost completely eliminated the amount of cesium inhaled and cut the amount of radioactive iodine ingested by one-third.

Without the mask, the level of internal exposure to radioactive materials, such as iodine, could have totaled 9.3 microsieverts during those hours, he said.

His research was conducted at the university's Hongo campus in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward after hydrogen explosions rocked the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The results were presented at a convention of the Japanese Society of Radiation Safety Management in Yokohama on Nov. 30.

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