Apparently any story with the word “plutonium” in it is worth printing (“Plutonium traces found in Britons,” Main news, Aug. 2).
The article says that plutonium is found in the teeth of children in Britain. I dare say plutonium would also be found in the teeth of adults.
This article omits the fact that plutonium, like many other radioactive materials, can be measured at vanishingly small concentrations. Perhaps this is implied by the statement that “plutonium made up only around one-thousandth of all the radioactive material to which the body is exposed.”
That plutonium is found in people is not new. As far back as 1974, an extensive study reported that “plutonium is present in extremely small amounts in various organs of contemporary adult humans.” It went on to say the origin was from above-ground atomic weapons tests. No health effects have been observed from this phenomenon.
One can conclude that the radiation levels implied in the British study pose no risk and that the Tribune has reported an interesting but essentially inconsequential piece of “news.”
