Iron blue has become important as an agent for decontaminating persons or animals having ingested radioactive material. The isotope 137Cs, which would otherwise be freely absorbed via the human or animal digestive tract, exchanges with the iron(II) of the iron blue [3.192], [3.193] and is then excreted into the feces [3.194]. Gelatin capsules containing 500 mg iron blue are marketed as “Radiogardase-Cs” (Heyl). Thallium ions have been found to behave similarly [3.195-3.197]. The gelatin capsules for this purpose are sold as “Antidotum Thalii” (Heyl) [3.198].
3.6.5