Re: Kosov DU - New Scientist Report

[Philip Hypes <phypes@lanl.gov>]

In response to the first portion of you message, I quote the Rand report on
DU:

"there are no peer-reviewed published reports of detectable increases of
cancer or other negative health effects from radiation exposure to inhaled
or ingested natural uranium at levels far exceeding those likely in the
Gulf. This is mainly because the body is very effective at eliminating
ingested and inhaled natural uranium and because the low radioactivity per
unit mass of natural and depleted uranium means that the mass of uranium
needed for significant internal exposure is virtually impossible to obtain."

Strong words, I think we can all agree.  Even if it is a lot of DU, that
doesn't
necessarily mean a lot of risk for those involved. 

As to the second portion of you message, the Rand report, which can be
found on
the web at

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/cover.html

includes extensive discussions of chemical toxicity issues.

At 12:30 PM 6/7/99 -0500, you wrote:
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>290 tonnes of DU is a LOT of DU.  One can imagine many people inhaling
milligram
>quantities of fine DU dust when they are climbing in and around tanks
distroyed
>by DU shells.  Does anyone know of any credible studies to determine
whether the
>chemical toxicity of DU affected any American troops in the Gulf War?  This
>clearly would not be a radioactive problem, but people know that  uranium is
>radioactive and might be thinking too much about the radioactivity and not
>enough about the chemical toxicity.  Any real information out there about
that?
>Al Tschaeche antatnsu@pacbell.net

___________________________________________________________
Philip Hypes
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Safeguards Science and Technology Group (NIS 5)
(505) 667-1556  phypes@lanl.gov

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