ISRAEL/JAPAN: Three Nobel prize winners are throwing their weight behind an anti-radiation belt developed by an Israeli company that protects first-responders from exposure to radiation after nuclear accidents

Record ID: 398447

  • Title: ISRAEL/JAPAN: Three Nobel prize winners are throwing their weight behind an anti-radiation belt developed by an Israeli company that protects first-responders from exposure to radiation after nuclear accidents
  • Date: 13th April 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) OREN MILSTEIN, PH.D, PRESIDENT, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER OF "STEMRAD INC.", WALKING IN HALLWAY VARIOUS OF MILSTEIN HELPING COLLEAGUE PUT ON PROTECTIVE VEST TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) OREN MILSTEIN, PH.D, PRESIDENT, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER OF "STEMRAD INC.", SAYING: "Concept
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel, Japan
  • City:
  • Country: Japan Israel
  • Topics: Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVAAR7KKCC2JSFG83ZOXW6D94GU6
  • Story Text: An Israeli company has developed a lightweight belt it says can protect first responders from the deadly effects of gamma radiation in a nuclear disaster.
    The "StemRad 360 Gamma" belt is worn over the pelvic area, shielding a main concentration of bone marrow - tissue endowed with regenerative potential that can help rescuers survive radiation sickness.
    Oren Milstein, StemRad's president, co-founder and chief scientist, says development of the 15 kilogramme (33 lb) belt is a departure from previous thinking that only a heavy, full-body lead suit, impractical for first responders, could offer adequate protection.

    "Conceptually, it's agreeable that the bone marrow is the most radiation sensitive tissue and that bone marrow is able to regenerate itself. So kind of like adding one plus one, we know that if we perform partial shielding on bone marrow, we get an increased survivability of the individual," Milstein told Reuters.
    Milstein won't disclose the technology behind the belt's protective qualities, which is patented, but says it is derived from the way in which lead and other materials are woven into position to create enhanced radiation shielding.
    The company says the belt hasn't yet been used by people in a real environment but says it has been tested on mannequins to simulate the body's ability to absorb radiation.
    StemRad co-founder and CEO, Daniel Levitt says initial purchases have been made by Japan's Fukui fire department, Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor and a Russian distributor.
    Milstein says the belt, which weighs under 20 kilogrammes (44lbs), effectively delivers protection to first responders to nuclear emergencies, allowing them to work unhindered and by heavy layers of lead.
    he says it could also be worn by people in danger areas awaiting rescue.
    Previously, it was thought the only way to avert the devastating effects of gamma radiation was by shielding in a suit of lead weighing some 250 kgs but that was completely impractical, Milstein said.
    Stemrad's belt incorporates lead and other lightweight materials which when woven into position in a particular way, create the enhanced radiation shielding.

    "It's made of quite a few different materials that coming together create a unique architecture that reflects the anatomy of the pelvic bone marrow. So the structure inside, it may look simplistic on the outside but the structure inside is three dimensional and very unique and of course patent pending. The idea here was to create a product that on the one hand protects but on the other hand is not over burdened weight," Milstein said.
    The belt does not offer full protection from radiation or allow an unlimited stay in an irradiated area but Milstein says it can protect from a dose of up to a 1,000 rads, a level of radiation poisoning that can cause serious illness and death.
    The belt also features sensors that provide details of the wearer's exposure while working in an irradiated area, and an alarm that will alert the wearer when radiation levels are too high. .
    Three Nobel laureates, including Roger D. Kornberg, the 2006 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry sits on Stemrad's advisory board, says he believes radiation belt offers a sensible alternative to current protective systems.

    "When I was first told about it, I was at first sceptical. It was hard to believe such a thing could work and be so effective. But now that I understand, of course it is a clever solution to an important problem," Kornberg told Reuters.
    Levitt's father Michael, who won the 2013 chemistry prize, also sits on StemRad's scientific advisory board.

    "The idea is very clever. I think to make a full body suite with this level of protection would weigh something like 200 kilos so it wouldn't work for most people. This I think weighs 15 Kilos or something like that so you can certainly be free and move with it and so on. But I certainly agree with Professor Kornberg that the key idea was this realisation that there really was a shortcut and it was really based on medical studies of regeneration of bone marrow," Levitt said.
    Asked about the company's claims, Dr. Ehud Ne'eman, a nuclear engineer and physicist, and former director of the Israeli Environment Ministry's radiation division, said it was hard to judge the effectiveness of the belt without knowing its exact composition.

    "Lead is regarded as the best protection but I don't know what they've added to it," Ne'eman told Reuters in a phone conversation.
    He noted that the belt left critical organs, such as the liver and thyroid, exposed.
    With an investment of about US$2 million in research and development, Stemrad director Ronen Melnik says he thinks the company will soon start to turn a profit, with sales of tens of millions of dollars expected in the coming year.
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