Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!husc6!frooz!cfa.HARVARD.EDU
From: wyatt@cfa.HARVARD.EDU (Bill Wyatt)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: WHY AREN'T WE ALL DEAD???
Message-ID: <198@cfa.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: 19 Sep 89 18:29:13 GMT
References: <1292@argus.UUCP>
Sender: news@cfa.HARVARD.EDU
Lines: 27

> : So, I ask again -- if plutonium is so dangerous, why aren't we all
> : dead.
> 
> Because I believe the proper term is "if properly distributed".
> The proper means is that if every man woman and child stands in line,
> gets the proper dosage of plutonium, and fails to see the doctor on
> a regular basis for the next 20-40 years.  [...]
>
> And as far as "most toxic substance" is concerned, I believe
> Boutoulism (sp) is by far the most toxic, although I think the
> puffer fish entails comes in a close second [...]

Actually, Pu is *chemically* extremely toxic, certainly one of the
most toxic substances around, although I don't know how it compares to
the ones cited above. I think I've heard the amount of 40 micrograms
as a fatal dose, and death occurs in minutes if it's inhaled as a gas.

The second commenter seems to think that radiation is the only
problem!  I do, however, believe that the current protesters outside
Kennedy worrying about launching RTGs are full of it. They ought to go
protest outside the Savannah River complex, where the real disasters
are waiting to happen! 

Bill Wyatt, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory  (Cambridge, MA, USA)
    UUCP :  {husc6,cmcl2,mit-eddie}!harvard!cfa!wyatt
    ARPA:   wyatt@cfa.harvard.edu
    SPAN:   cfa::wyatt                 BITNET: wyatt@cfa