RE: Pu Toxicity vs DDT-Claification

["Lieskovsky, Miro" <MLieskovsky@nbpower.com>]

Just to clarify my original statement: 

"I do not know what kind of assumptions one should use for the committed
doses because of the acute effects or whatever else, but I for one do
not want to swallow any of that stuff."

Want I really meant was that I do not want to eat that 1g of whatever Pu
isotope in the context of swalloving it instead of 1g of DDT.  

This was meant with the understanding that the background contamination
is inevitable.

Hope this makes sense.

Regards,

Miroslav Lieskovský
Health Physicist
NB POWER - PLGS - HP Dep't
PO BOX 10, Lepreau, NB, Canada, E0G 2H0
tel. (506) 659 7421, fax. (506) 659 6507
mlieskovsky@nbpower.com





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Holloway3@aol.com [mailto:Holloway3@aol.com]
> Sent: Saturday, February 06, 1999 8:31 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Pu Toxicity vs DDT
> 
> 
> In a message dated 1/28/1999 12:03:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> MLieskovsky@nbpower.com writes:
> 
> << The committed effective doses per ingestion of 1g of Pu 
> isotopes 238-242
>  range from 600 to 3 000 000 Sv for an infant.  Others are similar. 
>  
>  I do not know what kind of assumptions one should use for 
> the committed
>  doses because of the acute effects or whatever else, but I for one do
>  not want to swallow any of that stuff.  >>
> 
> But everyone eats some Pu with food.  I once visited the 
> analytical laboratory
> at the University of Utah run by McDonald Wrenn and Naryanah 
> Singh (it is now
> closed, I think).  They were doing analysis of Pu by neutron 
> activation on
> urine samples.  They determined that an average middle aged 
> person excretes
> about 1 million atoms of Pu-239 per day.  The origin is from 
> old fallout from
> weapons testing.  For those who are deathly afraid of Pu, as 
> being the "most
> deadly substance known", this is something to consider.  It is a good
> illustration of the adage that "the poison is in the dose".   
> There is some
> safe level of Pu it seems, and everyone is living proof of that.  
> 
>           holloway3@aol.com
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