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Plutonium Toxicity


Thanks for the info on Plutonium toxicity, Wade.  I'm porting this in the 
RADSAFE list so everyone can see it.

Forwarded message:
> From wade@isg.llnl.gov Mon Oct  4 22:06:08 1993
> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 93 20:05:45 PDT
> From: wade@isg.llnl.gov (H. Wade Patterson)
> Message-Id: <9310050305.AA16995@isg.llnl.gov>
> To: mandel@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: Plutonium Toxicity
> Cc: wade@isg.llnl.gov
> 
> Some time ago there was a question about the relative toxicity of Pu.
> In 1976, Dave Myers and I wrote a paper titled,
> "Selected Aspects of Plutonium in the Environment, and Its Toxicity."
> Table 17, from this paper, gives the following:
> 
> Agent          Action & Site             Approximate amount to cause
>                                                        death in hours to days.
> Pu (ingest)             GI tract                         500 mg
> Pu (inhal)             Pul. edema                        25 mg
> HCN                   Blood anoxia                      50 mg
> Parathion            Blocked synapses             100 mg
> Arsenic             Chemical poison                 120 mg
> Botulism toxin  Resp. paralysis                 5 E-5 mg
> 
> Our reference for the common poisons was:
> "Poisoning", J.M. Arena, C.C. Thomas, 1963,pp. 53, 54, 119.
> 
> Hector: Please post if you deem it worthy.
>