Re: plutonium

[rkathren@tricity.wsu.edu (Ron L. Kathren)]

Tom and all Radsafers:

Some of the answers you seek can be found on the Home Page of the US
Transuranium and Uranium Registries; the URL is:
www.tricity.wsu.edu/~ustur/  We will be glad to send out reprints of any of
our publications including Annual Reports (the latest is on the web) so long
as supplies last.  

Ron Kathren, CHP
Director, USTUR

  At 08:07 AM 10/8/97 -0500, Tom Mohaupt wrote:
>Fellow RadSafers:
>
>The philosophical debate on the toxicity of plutonium has been 
>intriguing.  We know it can't be the most toxic substance known to 
>mankind from simple reference to Voelz's paper in this month's Health 
>Physics.  Actually, Voelz's paper questions the basic tenet of claim 
>to plutonium's toxicity.  My questions are:
>How many people have measured concentrations of plutonium in their 
>bodies?  Voelz reported on 26.  Are there many more?
>How many people have died from plutonium poisoning?
>  {I use poisoing to account for radio or chemical toxic effects."
>How many suffered acute sickness, but recovered?
>How many excess cancers have there been?
>What percentage showed no sign of harm?
>I know it may be too early to answer some of these questions.  I'm 
>sure someone has the data, and solid data is the answer to any 
>philosophical question.
>
>Tom Mohaupt, M.S., CHP
>Wright State University
>{The opinions are my own, and may not represent the views of my 
>employer.}
>
>