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.