RE: Deadly Plutonium ?

["Neil, David M" <neildm@id.doe.gov>]

I'm a bit behind on reading these messages, so forgive me if I missed
something, but the comments on ingestion seem to be neglecting an important
factor concerning ingestion of insoluble substances.

As the man said, "This, too, will pass".  Stipulating that insoluble doesn't
mean totally obdurate, residence time in the GI tract is measured in hours.
I was trained to use 36 hours, but I always thought that this was too long.

Or does the word 'retentive' have another meaning to you?  :-)

Dave Neil		neildm@id.doe.gov

Anyone who isn't shocked by quantum physics has not understood it.  -  Niels
Bohr

On Monday, February 07, 2000 7:45 PM, Ron L. Kathren
[SMTP:rkathren@tricity.wsu.edu] wrote:
> Likely not from chemical toxicity; gut absorption is small, perhaps on the
> order of 3 x 10E-5, so the amount taken up would be small, about 15
> microgram.  However, unless my calculations are off,  ingestion of 2/100
oz
> = 30 mCi (referenced to Pu-239), would irradiate the sensitive cells
lining
> the gut at a level which I suspect might be high enough (I did not do the
> calculations) to cause death after a few days or weeks or serious injury
> from radiation effects on the gut cells.  [Again I comment that I have not
> done the calculations so this is a semieducated guess.]
> 
> Uptake of about 15 microgram of Pu-239 is about a microcurie, which is far
> more Pu than I would care to have in my body.
> 
> Ron Kathren
> 

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