Re: DU Story

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 11/25/02 6:54:37 PM Mountain Standard Time, ncohen12@comcast.net writes:


> There's alot of unknowns about DU and its efefcts and alot of claims have been made that may or may not be true.



There are also a lot of "knowns" about depleted uranium, and about the chemistry of uranium in general, and about the specific radioactivity of uranium.  No, you can't use the "but we don't know" dodge, because: (1) the specific radioactivity is insignificant compared to background, (2) ingested uranium affects the kidneys in a manner similar to many other heavy metals  -- it is a chemical, not a radiological, effect, and the effective concentrations are quite well understood, and (3) the solubility of either uranium metal or the oxide (which would be the result of burning uranium) at physiological pH is small and has been studied extensively.


Certainly a lot of claims "may not be true" -- most of these are claims about the health effects.


Ruth


Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com