[ RadSafe ] carcinogenicity of uranium

[James Salsman]

Instead of further discussion about me, I'm hoping we can discuss the
primary underlying issue, which seems to be:  Is inhaled uranium
carcinogenic?  There are peer reviewed papers on both sides of this
issue.  Recently, they have been tending towards the affirmative,
especially in literature reviews which seem to have been unanimous on
the question since 2004. I did a PubMed search to find the most recent
literature review and individual empirical study (because Jeff Terry
told me he prefers them to reviews) and below is what I found. I'm
hoping we can discuss these sources on their merits without discussion
of personalities.

Fairlie, R. (2009) "Depleted uranium: properties, military use and
health risks" Medicine, Conflict and Survival, vol. 25, no. 1, pp.
41-64, Review, http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a908923788
-- abstract: "... Particular attention is paid to the evidence of DU's
health effects from cell and animal experiments and from epidemiology
studies. It is concluded that a precautionary approach should be
adopted to DU and that there should be a moratorium on its use by
military forces. International efforts to this end are described." The
body of the article discusses carcinogenicity studies in detail.

LaCerte, C., et al. (2010) "Particulate depleted uranium is cytotoxic
and clastogenic to human lung epithelial cells" Mutation
Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, vol. 697,
no. 1-2, pp. 33-37, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2010.01.013
-- abstract: "... DU is suspected to be a carcinogen, potentially
affecting the bronchial cells of the lung. Few studies have considered
DU in human bronchial cells. Accordingly, we determined the
cytotoxicity and clastogenicity of particulate DU in human bronchial
epithelial cells (BEP2D cells). DU induced concentration-dependent
cytotoxicity in human bronchial epithelial cells, and was not
clastogenic after 24 h but induced chromosomal aberrations after 48 h.
These data indicate that if DU is a human bronchial carcinogen, it is
likely acting through a mechanism that involves DNA breaks after
longer exposures."

Any problems with those studies?

Sincerely,
James Salsman