[ RadSafe ] Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat -NIH research

[Mercado, Don]

I still haven't seen any evidence that a DU round hit causes "inhalable
vapors and dust" of any concentration to warrant a concern. James, what
is the dose from the claimed inhaled DU?

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of James Salsman
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 1:46 PM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat
-NIH research


Stewart Farber wrote:

> Regarding the long-running depleted U issue health risk thread, see 
> the
> recently published research summary about tungsten alloy munitions [a

> suggested "benign alternative" to depleted U] and tungsten's
unexpected  
> health threats....

Tungsten isn't pyrophoric, so it doesn't doesn't produce inhalable
vapors and dust when used as uranium does, and thus isn't likely to be a
wide-ranging hazard to soldiers and civilians as uranium is. Shrapnel
wounds are a risk, but less so overall.

Sincerely,
James Salsman

> The intro paragraph and link is given below.
> 
> Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat
> In response to concerns about the human and environmental health 
> effects
> of materials used to produce munitions, countries including the United

> States have begun replacing some lead- and depleted uranium-based  
> munitions with alternatives made of a tungsten alloy. But this
solution  
> may not be the "magic bullet" it was once envisioned to be.
Researchers  
>  from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and the Walter
Reed  
> Army Institute of Research now report that weapons-grade tungsten
alloy  
> produces aggressive metastatic tumors when surgically implanted into
the  
> muscles of rats [EHP 113:729-734]. These findings raise new questions

> about the possible consequences of tungsten exposure, and undermine
the  
> view that tungsten alloy is a nontoxic alternative to depleted uranium
and  
> lead.
> 
> http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/113-6/ss.html#noma


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