Re: deuterium as a poison

[Jacques.Read@eh.doe.gov]

In the sixties Argonne National Lab had a "farm" for making deuterated

biological compounds.  The idea was to use deuterated simple molecules to grow

single-celled plants and animals, use them to feed larger animals, etc., for use

as a supply of labelled organic molcules.  They established that animals became

unviable at a much lower deuterium content than plants, with higher animals less

tolerant than single-celled organismz, and that only partial deuteration was

possible.  I think I recall that the highest they could get was several percent

D/H.  I forget the name of the scientist who ran the operation, but there was a

substantial literature on the subject at the time.







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