Bill Hunter wrote in response to me:
----- Original Message -----
From: "whunter" <whunterjr@xxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, 10 August, 2003 06:31 PM
Subject: Re: Yellowing of radioactive lens elements....Re: [OM] 55/1.2
> >
> > How much more radioactive is this lens element than my thirty year old
> > wind
> > up Omega Speedmaster watch with luminous dial markings?
>
> To enjoy and be informed of the answer, suggest you visit the library
> for a book about the radium dial painters of the early 1900s. Because
> of this tragedy, the use of radium in virtually all consumer products
> from watches to 'snake oil' potions was prohibited by the 1950s.
Insofar as no answer was given I suspect that the radioactive toxicity of
camera lenses is no more perilous than a luminous watch and as such amounts
to a a storm in a tea cup. Certainly the issue raises no concern with me.
One interesting memory of my early childhood in the UK was going with my
mother to have shoes fitted. One stood with your feet inside the front of a
three or four high foot four sided pyramid with a viewing lens at the top.
Viewed through the lens one had a wonderful xray view of the foot and ankle
bones and could pick and choose just which pair of shoes to buy. I had a lot
of fun with these things and am still around after close on 50 years. I have
not seen these fitting devices since the late 1950s and suspect that some
bureaucrat deemed them unsafe!
jh
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