[ RadSafe ] Fwd: [Know_Nukes] Tungten Armor-Piercing Cure May BeWorse Than the Depleted Uranium Disease?

[Fred Dawson]

Just goes to show DU might be safer in this particular circumstance than 
other materials; contrary to the general assumption that if not radioactive, 
it must be safer!!

Fred Dawson




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Jacobus" <crispy_bird at yahoo.com>
To: "radsafe" <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 3:23 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: [Know_Nukes] Tungten Armor-Piercing Cure May 
BeWorse Than the Depleted Uranium Disease?


> >From another list server
>
> --- gumsh0e <gumsh0e at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> To:
>> From:
>> Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 01:03:06 -0000
>> Subject: [Know_Nukes] Tungten Armor-Piercing Cure
>> May Be Worse Than the Depleted Uranium Disease?
>>
>>
>> http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7791/7791.pdf
>>
>> ABSTRACT
>> Continuing concern regarding the potential health
>> and environmental
>> effects of depleted uranium and lead has resulted in
>> many countries
>> adding tungsten alloy-based munitions to their
>> battlefield arsenals as
>> replacements for these metals. Because the alloys
>> used in many
>> munitions are relatively recent additions to the
>> list of militarily
>> relevant metals, very little is known about the
>> health effects of
>> these metals after internalization as embedded
>> shrapnel. Previous work
>> in this laboratory developed a rodent model system
>> that mimicked
>> shrapnel loads seen in wounded personnel from the
>> 1991 Persian Gulf
>> War. In this study, we used that system and male
>> F344 rats, implanted
>> intramuscularly with pellets (1 mm x 2 mm cylinders)
>> of weapons-grade
>> tungsten alloy, to simulate shrapnel wounds. Rats
>> were implanted with
>> 4 (low dose) or 20 pellets (high dose) of tungsten
>> alloy. Tantalum (20
>> pellets) and nickel (20 pellets) served as negative
>> and positive
>> controls, respectively. The high-dose tungsten
>> alloy-implanted rats
>> (n=46) developed extremely aggressive tumors
>> surrounding the pellets
>> within 4-5 months after implantation. The low-dose
>> tungsten
>> alloy-implanted rats (n=46) and nickel-implanted
>> rats (n=36) also
>> developed tumors surrounding the pellets, but did so
>> at a slower rate.
>> Rats implanted with tantalum (n=46), an inert
>> control metal, did not
>> develop tumors. Tumor yield was 100% in both the
>> low- and
>> high-dose tungsten alloy groups. The tumors,
>> characterized as
>> high-grade pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcomas by
>> histopathology and
>> immunohistochemical examination, rapidly
>> metastasized to the lung and
>> necessitated euthanasia of the animal. Significant
>> hematological
>> changes, indicative of polycythemia, were also
>> observed in the
>> high-dose tungsten alloyimplanted rats. These
>> changes were apparent as
>> early as 1 month post-implantation in the highdose
>> tungsten alloy
>> rats, well before any overt signs of tumor
>> development. These results
>> point out the need for further studies investigating
>> the health
>> effects of tungsten and tungsten-based alloys.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++
> "Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, 
> the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
> Hugh Blair, 1783
>
> -- John
> John Jacobus, MS
> Certified Health Physicist
> e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com
>
>
>
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