The intention of the study was to establish the activity concentrations and the annual committed effective dose due to ingestion of medicinal plants and soils by pregnant women and their probable effects to infants. The samples of medicinal plants and soils were collected from Osukuru, Tororo District (Uganda). The naturally occurring radionuclides investigated were ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K and their activity concentrations were determined using NaI gamma detector. In the medicinal plants, the average activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were found to be 6.04 Bq/kg, 9.65 Bq/kg and 359.59 Bq/kg respectively. African Basil registered the highest activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra of 10.02 Bq/kg, spider plant had the highest activity concentration of ²³²Th of 18.60 Bq/kg whereas the pumpkin registered the highest activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K of 437.92 Bq/kg. The average activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in ‘medicinal soils’ were 68.87 Bq/kg, 78.20 Bq/kg and 477.44 Bq/kg respectively. The soils from the anthills registered the highest activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K while the one from bricks registered the highest activity concentration of ²³²Th.

The annual committed effective dose due to the ingestion of medicinal plants varied from 0.096 to 0.297 mSv/y with an average of 0.194 mSv/y in infants, 0.016–0.040 mSv/y with an average of 0.029 mSv/y for individuals of age range 12–17 years and 0.007–0.018 mSv/y with an average of 0.013 mSv/y for individuals older than 17 years. Whereas the annual committed effective dose due to the ingestion of ‘medicinal soils’ varied from 1.28 to 1.65 mSv/y with an average of 1.46 mSv/y in infants, 0.23–0.30 mSv/y with an average of 0.26 mSv/y (12–17 years) and 0.07–0.09 mSv/y with an average of 0.08 mSv/y for individuals older than 17 years. In medicinal plants, the annual committed effective dose for the all age groups examined were below 0.3 mSv/y (maximum world permissible as reported UNSCEAR, 2000) while that due to the ingestion of ‘medicinal soils’ had values higher 0.3 mSv/y in infants. The results of this study show that there is inherent danger to the infants in consuming soils during pregnancy and this should be discouraged.

该研究的目的是确定孕妇摄入的药用植物和土壤及其对婴儿的可能影响的活性浓度和年度承诺有效剂量。药用植物和土壤样品是从乌干达托罗罗区奥苏库鲁采集的。研究的天然放射性核素为²²⁶ Ra，²³² Th和⁴⁰ K，其活性浓度使用NaIγ探测器确定。在药用植物中，平均活性浓度分别为²²⁶ Ra，²³² Th和⁴⁰ K，分别为6.04 Bq / kg，9.65 Bq / kg和359.59 Bq / kg。非洲罗勒的活动浓度最高蜘蛛的²²⁶ Ra为10.02 Bq / kg，最高活性浓度为²³² Th，为18.60 Bq / kg，而南瓜的最高活性浓度为⁴⁰ K，为437.92 Bq / kg。“药用土壤”中的²²⁶ Ra，²³² Th和⁴⁰ K的平均活性浓度分别为68.87 Bq / kg，78.20 Bq / kg和477.44 Bq / kg。来自蚁丘的土壤的最高活度浓度为²²⁶ Ra和⁴⁰ K，而来自砖块的土壤的最高活度浓度为²³² Th。

摄入药用植物引起的年度承诺有效剂量在0.096至0.297 mSv / y之间，婴儿平均为0.194 mSv / y，在年龄范围内的个体为0.016-0.040 mSv / y，平均为0.029 mSv / y 12-17岁和0.007-0.018 mSv / y，17岁以上的人平均为0.013 mSv / y。摄入“药用土壤”引起的年度承诺有效剂量在1.28至1.65 mSv / y之间，婴儿平均为1.46 mSv / y，在0.23–0.30 mSv / y之间，平均为0.26 mSv / y（12 –17岁）和0.07–0.09 mSv / y，对于17岁以上的个人平均为0.08 mSv / y。在药用植物中，所检查的所有年龄组的年度承诺有效剂量均低于0.3 mSv / y（如UNSCEAR所报告的，允许的最大世界剂量，（2000年），而由于摄入“药用土壤”而导致婴儿的这一数值较高，为0.3 mSv / y。这项研究的结果表明，在怀孕期间食用土壤对婴儿有内在的危险，应避免这种情况。