[ExI] How dangerous is radiation?

[Tomasz Rola]

On Tue, Jul 08, 2014 at 11:02:19PM +0200, Mirco Romanato wrote:

[...]
> 
> A lot of military deaths in Italy were linked with soldiers
> participating to the Peacekeeping for in Kosovo just after the war.
> All talking about radiations.
> But the types of cancers were different in type and speed of growth
> from the types one would expect from radiation exposure. They
> developed the cancers too fast and just few years after the war.
> My hypothesis was they were exposed to some type of chemicals on the
> ground. A burning tank must not be the most healthy source of smoke
> and powders.

I'm not an expert, just a wikipedia fanboy. So wiki in, wiki out:

"Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle"

"They [alpha particles - TR] are a highly ionizing form of particle
radiation, and (when resulting from radioactive alpha decay) have low
penetration depth. They are able to be stopped by a few centimeters of
air, or by the skin." [later on, they write about more energetic and
highly penetrating alpha particles - those come to existence by highly
energetic processes like cyclotrons - TR]

However:

"Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and other
 systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because, besides being
 weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal.[19][87][88] Uranium is
 also a reproductive toxicant.[89][90] Radiological effects are
 generally local because alpha radiation, the primary form of 238U
 decay, has a very short range, and will not penetrate skin. Uranyl
 (UO2+ 2) ions, such as from uranium trioxide or uranyl nitrate and
 other hexavalent uranium compounds, have been shown to cause birth
 defects and immune system damage in laboratory animals.[91] While the
 CDC has published one study that no human cancer has been seen as a
 result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium,[92] exposure to
 uranium and its decay products, especially radon, are widely known
 and significant health threats."

Now, given they shoot depleted U munitions wide and bride, I would
expect those health problems to come from inhaled U-dust and
other-compounds-dust.

Mob is likely to scream "radiation" but it seems to be just bad old
chemical toxicity. Not cool, however. Much more uncool than bad old
Lead/Pb. And I guess those and other substances are going to
accumulate over decades, probably screwing us for good in the
effect. Just think about it, if fetus develops in watery environment
and this environment is what mother eats/drinks/inhales, than it is
possible to cross a threshold and get plenty of congenital disorders,
have a look at frogs for clues. (Applause! Boooo-s!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_particle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_mutations_and_genetic_defects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_toxicity

Of course I realize that effects on humans would probably be different
than they are for frogs, I just wonder which way different. Since
frogs are much more dependent on good water than humans, similar
effects might show up for us much later. Which may also mean there
won't be enough time for correcting.

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **