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FedEx Misplaces Radioactive Rods

Posted by Soulskill on from the sign-here-for-your-tumors-sir dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "A shipment of radioactive rods used in medical equipment has vanished while being sent by FedEx from North Dakota to Tennessee. Based on tracking information, FedEx is focusing its search in the Tennessee area, but as a normal precaution the company alerted all of its stations 'in the event that it got waylaid and went to another station by accident.' Dr. Marc Siegel says if someone opens the container it could pose some serious health risks. 'I don't believe it has the degree of radiation that, if it were opened, your skin would suddenly slough off. But the concern would be, if this got opened inadvertently and someone didn't know what it was and then was repeatedly exposed to it over several days, it could cause a problem with radiation poisoning,' says Siegel. 'The people that use this equipment in a hospital use protective shielding with it.' The lesson is that active medical material must always be transported in a way that ensures the general public cannot get access to it. 'Medical devices should not be FedExed. They should be sent under a special service,' adds Siegel."

4 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. contradiction much .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA clearly states that the rods were located and its radioactive container was not opened.

    "The rods were incased in a metal container called a "pig" that contains their radiation. Munoz said when they were recovered at the Knoxville station Friday no one had opened that casing."

    "Everything's fine, the pig itself was not opened, and we're making arrangements to deliver it to the recipient," Munoz said.

    1. Re:contradiction much .. by pickens · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually at the time this story was submitted to Slashdot and posted to the front page, the rods had not been located.

      The story was updated after the rods were found but Fox didn't mention that they had changed the story, given the story a different headline, and kept the whole story at the same URL. Normally when a story changed this substantially, the news organization publishes a new story, or at least notes that the story has been updated or corrected.

      Here is the cached version of the story and the headline at the time it was submitted as a story to Slashdot.

      http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=radioactive+rods+fox+news&d=1094018597270&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=d977f9e4,d2527ef2

      FedEx Searching for Radioactive Shipment That Vanished Between N.D. and Tenn.

  2. FedEx Flat-Rate RADShip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If it glows, it goes.

  3. Re:FedEx? by ErikTheRed · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ummm... a few points:

    1) FedEx is, as far as I know, the only major carrier that handles radioactive material. It doesn't go in their regular package delivery system; they have a separate division that handles it (and biohazards, poisons, explosives, and things like that). See: http://www.fedex.com/us/services/customcritical/specialty/hazardous/index.html

    2) No delivery service is going to be 100% mistake free. Negative outcomes will happen in life. Get over it.

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