ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

 

Some lantern mantles contain small amounts of the radioactive element thorium. This poses a minimal health hazard that is eliminated by taking simple precautions:

• Wash hands after handling a new or used mantle or its ash.
• Avoid inhaling or ingesting mantle particles, fumes or ash during ignition or replacement of the mantle.
• Keep mantles out of the reach of children.
• Light the lantern in a well-ventilated area and ensure that fumes from the mantle are not inhaled.
• Use the lantern in well-ventilated areas.
• Do not overheat the lantern by using it with a hole in the mantle.
• Seal used mantles in a plastic bag and dispose of in the normal household garbage.
• Store bulk quantities of mantles in less frequented areas.

Potential Hazards of Thorium Mantles

Thorium is a radioactive element that emits ionising radiations as alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays. The amount of radioactivity in a mantle is very small.

Internal radiation exposure will arise from the alpha and beta particles if any of the mantle material is inhaled or ingested.

External radiation exposure can arise from the gamma rays if a large number of mantles are stored together.

NHMRC Recommendation

The current policy of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is that radioactive materials should not be used in consumer products where no benefit arises from their use and when an alternative product is available which does not use radioactive materials.

In November 1992, the NHMRC recommended that lantern mantles containing thorium should be withdrawn from sale over time and that, in the meantime, packets containing these lantern mantles should carry a warning. The NHMRC also recommended that the Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs implement this warning.

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