I read about toxicity of uranium plutonium and polonium but I don’t understand how do we know it’s a chemical toxicity. In case of Litvinenko poisoning, Wikipedia says «victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome» so it was not toxicity of polonium that killed him, it was radioactivity. Can radioactive heavy metals kill cause harm in the same way lead, cadmium and other heavy metals poison you. Or most damage will be from radiation.
In: Physics
Yes, radioactive heavy metals produce both radiation toxicity and heavy metal chemical toxicity.
For example, Uranium is known to interfere with the normal function of the kidneys, liver, and brain.
Radiation toxicity is more known because these elements are rare, and you only need to be near by a large amount to get radiation poisoning.
On the other hand, chemical toxicity requires that the chemical actually get inside you somehow. Which up until recently would never really happen.
That being said, environmental exposure to these heavy metals from waste produced by the nuclear industry or by improper PPE by workers using them is an increasing problem, even if radiation levels are safe. So we are starting to see issues arising from heavy metal poisoning by radioactive elements.
For more information on Uranium, see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819790/
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