Dalian customs stops bag of radioactive 'health stones'

A passenger who recently entered the country in Dalian, Liaoning province, was found to be carrying a bag of so-called "health stones", which seriously exceeded the radiation standard, according to a statement released by the official WeChat account of the General Administration of Customs on Sunday.

During a routine inspection of arriving flights at the airport in Dalian, the passenger triggered the alarm while passing through the fixed radiation monitoring gate.

Customs officers immediately conducted a thorough check, revealing that the bag the traveler was carrying contained so-called "health stones" that exceeded the permissible radiation levels with a radiation amount of 105 microsieverts per hour. That reading was 1,050 times higher than the background radiation level at the scene.

Instrument analysis showed that the radioactive material was thorium-232, which is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dalian Customs reminds passengers who buy overseas goods to understand the product composition information, so as not to cause economic losses nor endanger their health. For imported radioactive substances that exceed the standard, customs will hand them over to relevant departments or order them to be returned.