A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON RADIOACTIVITY CONCENTRATIONS AND DOSE ASSESSMENT OF SOME ANTICARCINOGENIC MEDICINAL PLANTS USED IN TURKEY

The medicinal plants have been traditionally used to treat illnesses for many years all over the world. Determining radioactivity levels in the medicinal plants is of great importance for the protection of human health. However, there are limited number of research related to radioactivity levels of medicinal plants in Turkey. The aim of this study is to determine the radioactivity levels in some anticarcinogenic medicinal plants that are often used to treat illnesses in Turkey. The analysis of Ra-226, Th-232, K-40 and Cs-137 activity concentration of medicinal plants was performed using a high resolution gamma-ray spectrometer with HpGe detector. The average activity concentrations for the medicinal plants were calculated as 10.87 +/- 1.61, 18.02 +/- 2.06, 1025.75 +/- 15.53 and 1.14 +/- 0.36 Bq kg(-1) for Ra-226, Th-232, K-40 and 137Cs, respectively. Total committed effective dose value due to ingestion was determined as 55.04 mu Sy y(-1) for these medicinal plants and has no risk to public health.