White House: A Matter Most Sensitive

Two Cincinnati women visiting the White House separately last spring were startled to be pulled out of the tourist line and quizzed by Secret Service agents. Reason: they were radioactive. Three Ohio doctors explained in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine last week that the women had taken a test for heart disease in which each had been injected with a radioisotope before exercising on a treadmill.

The Secret Service would not confirm the account, but the White House apparently is equipped with secret sensors that can detect tiny amounts of radioactivity. The high technology has a good purpose. A nuclear device in this era of refined mischief could be as small as a fountain pen.