Ammonium iron hexacyanoferrate in veterinary medicine and the Chernobyl disaster: an ion exchanger for radiocesium

Abstract The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 1986 released significant radioactive contamination by means of radionuclides across Europe, presenting unprecedented challenges to environmental, radiochemistry, human and veterinary medicine. Among the most effective countermeasures developed was ammonium iron hexacyanoferrate, a Prussian blue compound that efficiently binds radiocesium in the digestive tract of animals. This compound prevented the absorption and bioaccumulation of dangerous rad