As more and more people begin to pay attention to health preservation, in recent years, some stones that are claimed to have health care functions have gradually become sought after by the market. These so-called "health stones" have an ordinary appearance, but they have attracted many consumers to buy and wear. Recently, however, when a passenger entered the country with a so-called "health stone", he was stopped by customs. What's going on here?

The radiation exceeded the standard by 1,000 times, and passengers were seized when they entered the country with "health care stones".

Recently, Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport Customs intercepted a bag of so-called "health care stones" in the carry-on luggage of an inbound passenger, and after testing, the radiation of this bag of stones exceeded 1050 times the background value of the scene.

Jia Yongnan, Chief of the Second Section of Customs Passenger Inspection at Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport: At that time, the inbound passenger triggered an alarm when he passed through the fixed nuclear radiation detection door of the customs, and the passenger explained that it was a bag of "health care stones", with a nuclear radiation dose of 105 microsieverts/hour, which exceeded the background value of the scene by 1050 times, and the results of the instrument showed that the radioactive material was thorium-232.

According to the customs officer, thorium-232, as a radioactive substance, has been classified as a Class 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization, and long-term exposure can cause hair loss, vomiting, nosebleeds, and in severe cases, malignant tumors. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the safe limit for radiation exposure to the general public is 1 millisievert per year.

Yu Wen, Professor, School of National Security and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University: Our normal ambient radiation background dose rate is about 0.1 microsieverts/hour, which is almost 365 millisievert of radiation dose 1 days a year. If this health stone exceeds the background level by 1000,1 times, the cumulative radiation dose in a year is close to 1000 sievert, which is equivalent to <>,<> millisieverts, which is still very large.

Customs has repeatedly found that the radiation of the items carried by passengers exceeds the radiation standard

In fact, this is not the first time that customs officers have detected radioactive materials with excessive radiation in passengers' personal belongings. In recent years, local customs have repeatedly found stones, necklaces and other items with strong radiation in inspections.

In December 2019, also at Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport, an inbound passenger had a stone disk named "Five Elements Proton Quantum Energy Resonator" in his carry-on luggage, which triggered an alarm from a nuclear radiation instrument. According to the inspection of customs officers, the "power stone" also contains the radioactive material thorium-12, and the nuclear radiation value is 232.112 microsieverts, which exceeds the standard by 4 times. The passenger said at the time that the "power stone plate" was claimed to be safe when it was purchased, but after his daughter wore the "power stone plate" for three months, she often had nosebleeds for no reason, which was suspected to be related to the radioactive exceedance.

In November 2021, Shanghai Customs detected cesium-11, a radioactive substance with excessive radiation in a batch of imported Pinus sylvestris sylvestris var. sylvestris sylvestris var. sylvestris syl

In December 2022, Dongguan Customs found a shipment declared as an "ornament" in a cross-border e-commerce export vehicle, and the radiation was seriously exceeded. After investigation, the actual items in the box are the so-called high-energy negative ion pillows, mattresses and other items. It was identified as containing the radioactive substance thorium-12, with a peak radiation dose of 232.33 microsieverts, about 28 times higher than the background value of the supervision site.

In July this year, Shenyang Airport Customs found that 7 "health stone" necklaces carried by an inbound passenger were also detected with excessive nuclear radiation.

Wang Shoutao, Chief of the Fourth Section of Shenyang Taoxian Airport Customs Passenger Inspection Section: A passenger triggered an alarm through the fixed nuclear radiation monitoring door behind me, and after our re-examination, we confirmed that the "health stone" necklace carried by the passenger exceeded the nuclear radiation standard, and the measured radiation value reached 46.85 microsieverts/hour, which exceeded the background value of the scene by 468 times. The passenger claimed that the "health care stone" was purchased in a foreign market, and the seller said that the health care stone has the effects of health care, disease prevention, cancer prevention, and longevity.

Li Jin, Deputy Director of Shenyang Taoxian Airport Customs: After radionuclide analysis, the batch of health stones contains two radionuclides, barium-133 and thorium-232, both of which are included in the World Health Organization's list of carcinogens.

What is the harm of the "health stone" to the human body?

The radiation amount exceeds the standard by hundreds or even thousands of times, so what kind of harm does this so-called "health stone" have to the human body? Hear from the experts.

Yu Wen, Professor, School of National Security and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University: First of all, radioactivity, which has existed in this world since the formation of the earth, can be said to be everywhere and at all times. However, when its amount exceeds a certain limit, it will indeed cause certain harm to the human body. What kind of harm it will cause also takes into account the time of exposure, and the dose rate multiplied by the time is equal to the dose. Therefore, to assess what kind of harm it may cause, we still need the parameter of "time" to get a more accurate assessment.

Whether exposure to excessive radiation for a long time will definitely cause cancer, experts have also given an answer.

Yu Wen, Professor, School of National Security and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University: The higher the radiation dose, the greater the probability of adverse reactions. Cancer may be the most well-known to us, but it also takes into account individual differences, what does it mean? That is to say, if the same radiation dose is exposed to 100 people, it does not mean that all 100 people will get cancer, it is possible that 10 people will get one type of cancer, and some others will get another form of cancer, and there may be dozens of people who may not get cancer at all, and there are great individual differences.

Experts remind that although some radionuclides have been applied in the medical field, we must keep our eyes open for the so-called "energy substances" of unknown origin and incomplete information. It is also necessary to be vigilant against illegal activities such as pyramid schemes under the guise of "power stones", and beware of being deceived!

(CCTV news client reporter Ye Huan, Liaoning station)