Pu not a villain after all?

[Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com>]

Jan. 24



	"While plutonium, along with uranium, is the basic fuel for nuclear

weapons, the substance isn't particularly dangerous if handled with care

and not ingested.



	" 'Outside of the body, plutonium presents little danger,' according to a

Web site run by the Energy Department's Amarillo National Research Center."



	These are the final two paragraphs of a Knight Ridder Newspapers article

by Warren P. Strobel, printed in the Albuquerque Journal on Jan. 21.



	I am certain this is the first time I have read an article in the popular

press that presented plutonium as not being extremely dangerous, or the

most toxic substance known to man, etc., etc.  Is this a fluke, or is it a

harbinger of a more rational perspective on plutonium?



Steven Dapra

sjd@swcp.com







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