PLUTONIUM AND OTHER NUCLEAR MATERIALS ARE EXTREMELY TOXIC Douglas Holdstock, Lis Waterston 2000 (Phd working for Meact, "Nuclear weapons, a continuing threat to health" Lancet 2000; 355: 1544–47 The toxicity of plutonium arises mainly from its radiological effect Plutonium delivers a negligible external radiation dose to the skin because it emits mainly alpha particles. Inhaled plutonium will irradiate the lung, ingested plutonium the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. Weight for weight, inhaled plutonium is more toxic than ingested and reactor grade plutonium more toxic than military By extrapolation from experiments in dogs, inhalation of 100 mg weapons-grade plutonium might cause deaths in humans from acute respiratory failure within a week, and 3 mg could result in fatal pulmonary fibrosis within months. Inhalation of a few micrograms leads to lung cancer several years later.
