Pu toxicity (more on)

[HWADE@aol.com]

Relative toxicity of Plutonium
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:
Arena, J.M. ,"Poisoning", C.C. Thomas pp. 53, 54, 119 (1963)