CAIRO: A farmer was assessed by doctors after he picked up a batch of radioactive material that fell from a delivery vehicle bound for Sohag Cancer Institute, on the Cairo-Sohag Dessert Road.According to press reports, the substance, which is used in the treatment of cancer, contains radioactive iodine. The container holding the material fell from the delivery vehicle after a road collision with another vehicle, and landed in a farm in Al-Hamdia village, north Sohag city. Forty-five-year-old farmer Ismail Al-Sayed Ismail found the material and took it back to his home, where he kept it until it was discovered by police officers investigating the incident. Doctors accompanying the police examined the farmer and advised him to avoid eating milk, eggs and cheese and to burn the alfalfa in his farm, where the substance was reported to have fallen.Abdel Hakim Kandil, professor of Nuclear Energy in Helwan University, told Daily News Egypt that it is illegal for any “kind of transportation to carry radioactive material without the permission of the National Center for Nuclear Safety. Kandil added that the material was not packed inside lead-lined containers during transport, which is the standard requirement for radioactive materials in transport. He suggested that there did not appear to be sufficient safety procedures in place to prevent the hazardous material from spilling and harming the public. “Everything was done wrong, said Kandil commenting on the incident.He said the risks of contamination from the material would last up to eight days, and that the area surrounding the incident ought to be evacuated in order to prevent any illness or injury. Also, he said, the farmer involved ought to be given a thorough medical examination in order to ensure he was well. Kandil further stated that transferring a nuclear material is “a process that is usually accompanied by strict regulations and monitoring from all the specialized authorities, that such regulations were obviously not enforced in this case.Kandil also added that, in general, the safest way to transfer radioactive material is by sea not by road.
Radioactive material falls into farmer's hands
