Plutonium from Sellafield in all children's teeth

[Kellanved]

Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria has led to children's teeth across Britain being contaminated with plutonium.
The Government has admitted for the first time that Sellafield 'is a source of plutonium contamination' across the country. Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson has revealed that a study funded by the Department of Health discovered that the closer a child lived to Sellafield, the higher the levels of plutonium found in their teeth.

Johnson said: 'Analysis indicated that concentrations of plutonium... decreased with increasing distance from the west Cumbrian coast and its Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant - suggesting this plant is a source of plutonium contamination in the wider population.'

Johnson claimed the levels of plutonium are so minute that there is no health risk to the public. But this is disputed by scientists, MPs and environmental campaigners who have called for an immediate inquiry into how one of the world's most dangerous materials has been allowed to continue to contaminate children's teeth. There have long been claims of clusters of childhood leukaemia around Sellafield.

...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1096367,00.html

[kimchi]

1. Remember, plutonium builds strong teeth!

If this were in America, there'd be a campaign to spin it that way about now...

[Kellanved]

2. there is

I've heard several DUers arguing in favour of Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing - this is why I oppose it (and it's no better in Normandy).

[treepig]

3. more information on plutonium

courtesy of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium ( does anybody know if this site provides accurate information? )

Hazards
Plutonium is sometimes described in media reports as the most toxic substance known to man, although there is general agreement among experts in the field that this is incorrect. As of 2003, there has yet to be a single human death officially attributed to plutonium exposure. Naturally-occurring radium is about 200 times more radiotoxic than plutonium, and some organic toxins like Botulism toxin are billions of times more toxic than plutonium.
The chemical and radiological toxicity of plutonium should be distinguished from the danger of plutonium. Many, both in the anti-nuclear movement and in the continuing green politics movement, refer to plutonium as the most dangerous substance known to man because of its crucial role in the production of nuclear weapons.

Possibly it is the confusion of these two issues that has led to sensational exaggerations of plutonium toxicity. A 1989 paper by Bernard L. Cohen states, "Pu hazards are far better understood than , and the one fatality per 300 years they may someday cause is truly trivial by comparison. In spite of the facts we have cited here, facts well known in the scientific community, the myth of Pu toxicity lingers on." <3> (html-ized version)

That said, there is no doubt that plutonium may be extremely dangerous when handled incorrectly. The alpha radiation it emits does not penetrate the skin, but can irradiate internal organs when plutonium is inhaled or ingested. Extremely small particles of plutonium on the order of micrograms can cause lung cancer if inhaled into the lungs. Considerably larger amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and death if ingested or inhaled however, so far, no human is known to have died because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.

[NNadir]

4. Your reference is largely correct.

Many metric tons of plutonium have been injected into the environment as a result of nuclear testing. The element is now widely distributed on earth, albeit in tiny concentrations.

It is not surprising that you can measure plutonium in human and other tissues, the element is particularly easy to find because of its radioactivity. (Scientists often discover new transplutonium elements by tracing the activities of single atoms!) This does not mean that there is a huge health consequence. We are all radioactive, owing to the natural occurance of radioactive elements on earth, most notably, potassium 40. If every radiodecay in our bodies lead to fatal disease, humanity would simply not exist.

Generally though the word "plutonium" has excellent scare value. When you couple that word with the word "children, it has even more potency". People love to shut down this and prevent that because the word "plutonium" has been mouthed especially when it is used in a sentance having the word children. Bernard Cohen, who you cite, has been a leader, albeit a lonely leader, in trying to end this hysteria. Unfortunately he is very old now.

Life on earth was reportedly going to end because of the Cassini mission to Saturn which contained several kilos of plutonium-238. (If we do not use this isotope, we cannot explore deep space BTW; there is no other option.) I think we all died several years ago because of Cassini.

If, by the way, you are interested in seeing the very first sample of plutonium ever made, it is available for public viewing in the Museum of Science at the Smithsonian institution. Glenn Seaborg donated it, along with his Nobel Medal. It's downstairs, along with a mock up of the first nuclear reactor: Fermi's affair in the squash court at the University of Chicago.