Radioactive and stable elements' concentration in medicinal plants from Brazil

Since the early days of mankind, plants have been used as food and for medicinal purposes. Still, little information exists in literature about the activity concentration of 238U and 232Th decay products, as well as stable element concentrations in Brazilian plants. Activity concentrations of 226Ra, 228Ra and 210Pb, and chemical concentrations of As, Ba, Br, Cs, Co, Cr, Cu, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Yb, Zn and Zr were determined in ten samples commonly used in Brazilian medicinal plants. (author)