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27 Radiochemistry

“…Whilst the labelling of biomolecules has proved invaluable in nuclear medicine such molecules do, by their very nature, have within them the seeds of their own destruction. Investigations of the damage wrought to DNA by β-decay, 36,37 or caused by electron irradiation 38 or by technetium-99m decay, 39 have all been reported recently and methods have been established 40 to determine the radiochemical purity of samarium-153m-labelled radiopharmaceuticals. The use of [ 3 H]-thymidine DNA has been reported 41 to give erroneous results.…”