PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT
MICHIGAN SITES OF RADIUM DIAL CONTAMINATION
AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS (MICHIGAN RADIOLOGIC)
(a/k/a D & L SALES)
BENTON HARBOR, BERRIEN COUNTY, MICHIGAN
AND
H & K SALES (MICHIGAN RADIOLOGIC)
(/a/k/a D & L SALES)
BELDING, IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN
FIGURES
Figure 1. Michigan Sites of Radium Dials Contamination Locations
Figure 2. Benton Harbor Site Location
Figure 3. Benton Harbor Site Features (from Reference 16, Figure 2-2)
Figure 4. Belding Site Location
Figure 5. Bear Lake Site Location
Figure 1. Michigan Radium Dial Contamination Site Locations
Figure 3. Benton Harbor Site Features
ATSDR PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY
The following section was not available in electronic format for conversion to HTML at the time of preparation of this document. To obtain a hard copy of the document, please contact:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Attn: Chief, Program Evaluation, Records, and Information Services Branch
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333
The MDCH released a draft of this Public Health Assessment for public comment on January 22,
1997. The comment period lasted until February 21, 1997. No comments from the public were
received by MDCH in this period.
FOOTNOTES
1. On April 1, 1996, the Michigan Department of Public Health (MDPH) Division of
Radiological Health was transferred to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
(MDEQ) Drinking Water and Radiological Protection Division (DWRP). The site history and
background section of this document uses the departmental identifiers in effect at the time of the
events.
2. On April 1, 1996, the Michigan Department of Public Health (MDPH) Division of Health
Risk Assessment (DHRA) was absorbed into the newly-formed Michigan Department of
Community Health (MDCH). On October 1, 1996, the DHRA was renamed the Division of
Environmental Epidemiology. The site history and background section of this document uses the
departmental identifiers in effect at the time of the events.
3. The remainder declined to participate. Another worker, who had moved out of the area,
has resumed contact with the U.S. EPA and MDEQ-DWRP about her potential exposure to
radium, and the agencies' responses are described below.
4. Disintegrations per minute (dpm) are computed from the counts per minute (cpm)
measured by a radiation detector using factors dependent on the kind of radiation and the
geometry of the detector.
5. The workers habitually used their lips and tongues to put a fine point on the paintbrushes,
ingesting some of the paint in the process.
6. Between 2 and 30 years (residential); over 10 years (occupational).
7. Some former workers from both sites have recently been examined to evaluate their body
burdens of radioactive materials. No elevated levels were found.
8. The former residents of the house have not undergone radiological evaluation to date.
