glowings

I think the only way that they can be sold here is if they import the materials and manufactured here.

I also believe that they contain radioactive matierals(?)-technically illegal to put in the mail.
 
I have a few that I purchased off ebay about a year ago - came from England.
Love the way they glow in the dark. Only problem is that that my flashlights are now useless - I glow brightly in the dark. :D
 
underaged! said:
I also believe that they contain radioactive matierals(?)-technically illegal to put in the mail.
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So do chemical fertilizers, smoke detectors, salt substitutes, some lantern mantles, tobacco, tritium products, and various other things.
 
The glow rings are tritium, which is radioactive and does require (sp) a permit. I know that you could not import the glowrings for some reason while things like watches and gun sights are allowed. I was just wondering if that had changed. Reason I ask is the website gives usa permit info but doesn't say if they can be shipped here or not.
Thanks
 
As far as I know they are technically still illegal to import to the US. That doesn't mean it is really all that hard to get them here though.
 
The government's reasoning is if there were no restrictions millions of tritium vials would be imported every year and that would create an eventual disposal problem. That's why they're allowed for things the government has ruled to be useful like watches and gunsights yet not allowed for purposes the government deems frivolous like toys and keyring fobs. The government is not concerned about small quantities slipping by; that doesn't create a hazard.
 
What disposal problm? He3 has a half life of 12.5 years so in about 80? years it will be plain old He. And I can't imagine that at US$90,000 a gram we will ever see enough to make a disposal problem. I think they are just lazy or paranoid.
 
skunked said:
What disposal problm? He3 has a half life of 12.5 years so in about 80? years it will be plain old He. And I can't imagine that at US$90,000 a gram we will ever see enough to make a disposal problem. I think they are just lazy or paranoid.
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I can see a potential disposal problem. I mean you buy a glowring and it lasts about 12 years. After that it will start glowing less, and be less useful. You might want to get rid of it then, right? But it is still radioactive to some extent, and chances are good that you would just toss it into the trash can.

Now if that would really have any significant impact on the environment or whatever I couldn't tell you. I can easily say that I doubt anybody would buy them and keep them around for enough time for the material to completely decay into an inert gas.

I have a few, and find them to be quit useful on the keyring or various zipper pulls. If you want them they are easy enough to get in the US, and as was mentioned the government doesn't really care that much about the few that one person might import.
 
skunked said:
Are these sold here in the states yet?
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Nah.
And the manufacturer won't ship 'em elsewhere either.
I just did a group buy for a 100+ for British Blades, and they were snapped up - but I'd have thought if you looked round a bit you might find someone to help... a certain Black Panther from Kipling's the Jungle Book comes to mind...
 
That is stupid... I've bought all kinds of radioactive stuff polonium 210 anti-static brushes, and some smoke detectors contain Americium, some photocopiers contain high voltage switches that contain tritium, plus you can buy little calibration sources for calibrating your geiger counters etc.

Is this another of their flakey paranoid 9/11 things?
 
yuzuha said:
That is stupid... I've bought all kinds of radioactive stuff polonium 210 anti-static brushes, and some smoke detectors contain Americium, some photocopiers contain high voltage switches that contain tritium, plus you can buy little calibration sources for calibrating your geiger counters etc.

Is this another of their flakey paranoid 9/11 things?
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No, this was around before 9/11. The key here is basically that they allow certain amounts of radioactivity if the device is "useful". Glowrings are classified as novelties and thus are not allowed.

Hey, you could buy uranium if you wanted, and it is perfectly legal. How and why these laws are made up is beyond me.
 
ErikD said:
No, this was around before 9/11. The key here is basically that they allow certain amounts of radioactivity if the device is "useful". Glowrings are classified as novelties and thus are not allowed.

Hey, you could buy uranium if you wanted, and it is perfectly legal. How and why these laws are made up is beyond me.
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Yes, but the DOT shipping regs will get you on Uranium compounds since they don't distinguish between an ounce and a ton.... needs to be in a steel can with hazard labels all over it.

Anything can be used as a novelty if you are kinky enough. Still, I wouldn't exactly classify those glow sticks as novelty since they can be hooked to flashlights, first aid kits or any number of things that might come in handy in an emergency when there is a power outage or you are out caving or trying to find the radio you stashed in the storm celler or the keys to the truck you dropped out in the corn field. Most of the "glow" things that have to be exposed to light only last for about an hour, which would make them useless in a lot of applications.
 
Thanks for the united nuclear link. If I had more of that kinda stuff in my young teens... :D
 
I don't think that the ban on tritium is just a disposal problem, or a case of the government being overly cautious. There is a real security risk involved in the importation of tritium. I'm sure the small amounts present in Glowrings and other novelties do not pose a problem, but it is probably easier to make ANY amount illegal, than it is to determine what level is safe, and to set aside resources to monitor that level.

Here is what I had learned about tritium, and posted on another site:

"A hydrogen bomb, which is thousands of times more destructive than an atomic bomb, needs a massive amount of heat to begin the reaction which causes detonation. The amount of heat necessary is on the order of that which is put out by an atomic bomb. Tritium, however, allows the hydrogen bomb's reaction to start at a much lower temperature, which is what the NRC is worried about. Without tritium, the chances of some wacko creating a working home built hydrogen bomb is pretty much zero, because of the initial "push" required to start the reaction. With tritium, it may be possible to create a so-called "suitcase" nuclear weapon. Because of the large amount of energy expended by a hydrogen bomb explosion, even a small one can do lots of damage, so a suitcase-sized bomb becomes a viable proposition.

Having said all that, I don't know if the tritium gas used in a Glowring is of any use to terrorists, or if the government just monitors ALL tritium, so they don't have to make a decision on what's dangerous and what's not."
 
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: wow u need 2 learn how 2 use google

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/tritium.htm


ps tritium is in the luminox brand of watches and some kinds of map readers and lanturn mantels are NOT radioactive, they used to be but when a mantel would burn out and some1 would tuch it the mantel would turn 2 dust and that is the worst form of Thorium (what the mantel is made of) and can cause lung cancer and lots of bad stuff

http://www.gdr.org/radiation_in_furniture.htm


to make a suitcase nuclear bomb that would use tritium would be very hard. 1st they would have to make a conventional nuclear bomb then make a special case so that the tritium is compressed and heated. not to mention the prescise measurements that would be needed and all the other harder to get material, (lik weapons grade plutonium/uranium, the machenery to make the casing, high explosives, detinators, some1 that knows what they are doing AND they would have no way to test their bomb)

the government is more worried about a dirty bomb

it would be so much easier to try and get a russian warhead and get it somehow into the us then just drive up in a truck and......
 
I didn't say that tritium makes is easy to build a hydrogen bomb, I just said that it makes it a feasible proposition. Like the way some kid (high school? college? just an urban legend?) showed that he could made an atomic bomb himself, tritium makes the nearly impossible just really difficult. Yes, I am sure that there are much easier ways to cause mass harm and destruction, but should the government ignore this avenue because it's not the path of least resistance?
 
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