Fluoroscope for the Feet !

Amazing

I was watching the History Channel today, and they discussed the shoe fluoroscope used in the 1940s and somewhat in the 1950s. It was a device that used X-Ray to help consumers see how their feet fit into the shoes they were buying. The concept was that if one buys proper fitting shoes, then it will prove better for foot health, and shoes will wear better (implying that they will last longer).

Then the PROBLEM statement: These Fluoroscopes exposed the consumer to 75 REM per minute. A REM is a unit of radiation that is similar to a RAD, except it is measured in terms of its affect on humans or organic materials. REM means, Roentgen Equivalent Man. The human body can take radiation at different doses, depending on body parts exposed. Soft tissue and organs, such as your gonads (balls) can suffer greatly. Extremeties, such as fingers and toes, suffer less so, but will be harmed.

A nuclear power plant worker (my engineering activities involved working in operating nuclear power plants) are limited by feder law to 5 REM per year! Since a dose level is cummulative, then if a worker were exposed to 10 REM, he or she would be barred from entering the plant or dose emiting areas for two years. So, if a person received the 75 REM that the old fluoroscopes produced, they would be barred from nuclear plant work for 15-years.

The CAVEAT or KILLER issue: A single exposure to about 450 REM is normally considered lethal. The fact that consumers placed their feet in fluoroscopes, which were heavy metal casings, it likely prevented them from receiving a lethal dose to their soft tissues ... but, if the device leaked, or was not properly shielded, then I wonder if anyone ever died from these stupid machines ... or wonder why their gonads were not capable of producing offspring. At 75 REM per minute, if a person stood in the fluoroscope for just 6 minutes, and the machine leaked, then they could have received a 450 REM does.

In all the years I worked with radiation and in radiation environments, I never knew how much does the old shoe flourscopes emitted. My lifetime dose to date is less than 1 REM ... which is less than what people living in Denver, Colorado receive each year ... still, I will probably get cancern anyway, because as I get older, I am coming to dred that I am turning into grouchy old grump.

Jim Whitney

Mystla

Thanks for the post, I thought it was interesting.

Every time I hear about some new wonderful medical device, pill, or diet I wonder what they will say about it 50 years later. ..and if the FDA approves it? Well, they have a lot of interest in approving or dis-approving things that has nothing to do with wether or not it's good for me :) We can't even get vegamite in the US, for crying out loud

Hmmm... maybe I should go back to that conspirecy thread

Misty

TD

Very interesting Jim. I wonder what level of exposure users of the 'radium belt' experienced?

Navigator

I remember the old Fluoroscope machines. They were in the local Thomn McKan shoe store. I seem to recall having my feet in them a couple of times. Wonder how much the salemen working in those stores received.

Sunspot

I remember these machines too! I must have been under these X-rays countless times and I was so proud and happy when I was tall enough to be able to see my feet in them! (I am still short---just under 5 feet tall) We got new shoes at least twice a year, so take it from there. It's frightening how many things we did years ago, are now said to be so harmful!

Annie

juni

Thanks Jim for the facts in your post.

I, too, was very young when they used these machines. I thought it was the greatest!

A lot of us should be glowing? Think of all of the radiation our bodies have taken in through the years w/x-rays, etc. Frightening.

You're turning into a grouch? Not so that I've noticed. I only get grumpy when my foot and knees are hurting like hell.

Juni

Kudra

Ha ha. "Fluoroscope for the feet" sounds like something Russel or Rutherford would have hawked in the "golden Age" They'd have it advertised right next to the Miracle Wheat.

-K