Natural radioactivity concentrations in some medicinal plants and annual committed effective dose from their consumption

Abstract

Natural radioactive substances may be present in the environmental substances that have uses in pharmacy and medicine as health supplements. This paper presents natural radioactivity levels in some of the medicinal plants available in Egypt. Natural radionuclides such as 226 Ra, 228 Ra, and 40 K were measured in medicinal plants samples collected from the local market in Qena, Upper Egypt. All measurements were performed with a gamma spectrometry with high-purity germanium detector. The radioactivity concentration ranged from 0.4 ± 0.2 to 21.0 ± 1.2 Bq/kg for 226 Ra, from 228 Ra, and from 140 ± 6 Bq/kg to 1538 ± 54 Bq/kg for 40 K. The total annual committed effective doses ranged from 0.003 to 0.073 mSvy −1 with an average value of 0.02 mSva −1