Re: Pu toxicity (more on)

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Fri, 1 Sep 1995 HWADE@aol.com wrote:

> 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)
> 
>
----You were ignoring the effect of plutonium causing cancer (many years 
later) which is the main reason for worrying about plutonium ingestion or 
inhalation.