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Re: plutonium

Jess Coleman wrote:
.........
> Bye the way.  Remember Carl Sagan's "Cosmos"?  He repeated the myth on
> TV and printed it in his book by the same name.  Look up plutonium in
> the index.  On page 224: "Element 94, is called plutonium and is one of
> the most toxic substances known.  Unfortunately, it falls to pieces
> rather slowly."  Random House, 1980.
> 
> Jesse H. Coleman


Jess and Radsafers,

Either Pu is or is not the most toxic substance.

Probably it is not, because botulism toxin, aflatoxin and perhaps others
are more toxic on a mg/kg basis. But so what. That puts Pu in the top 3
or 5 or 10 most toxic substances.

So let us not argue too much, because first place in toxicity is not
much different from third or fifth place.

Regards,
Wes
-- 
Wesley R. Van Pelt, Ph.D., CIH, CHP                KF2LG
President, Van Pelt Associates, Inc.     
Consulting in radiological health and safety.
mailto:VanPeltW@IDT.net        
http://shell.idt.net/~vanpeltw/index.html