Posted on 08/02/2007 6:13:59 PM PDT by blam
Hospital cesium is 'terror chemical' says expert
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 03/08/2007
A radioactive chemical widely used in medical and industrial equipment should be banned because of its potential use in a terrorist attack, scientists say.
Prof Peter D Zimmerman and colleagues at King's College London said hundreds could be poisoned or burnt if enough cesium-137 fell into the wrong hands.
They argued that the substance, used in radiotherapy machinery and on factory production lines, was one of the most likely candidates for use in an "I-cubed" attack - involving victims' chemical ingestion, inhalation or immersion.
The warning comes after two foreign doctors, who worked in British hospitals, were charged with offences relating to the foiled London and Glasgow car bomb attacks.
The driver of the jeep that crashed into Glasgow airport, who is seriously ill in hospital, also worked as a doctor. (This terrorist is now dead, BBC)
In an article in The New York Times, Prof Zimmerman said: "Water-soluable cesium chloride should be taken off the market immediately.
"The death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB officer who drank polonium-210 in a cup of tea, underscored the damage that radiological terrorists could do.
"Most analysts believe that about 10 people would die from radiation poisoning after a dirty bomb attack. But radioactive material inside the human body is far more dangerous.
"A terrorist attack using the ingestion, inhalation or immersion of radioactive material would be almost certain to kill hundreds."
Many hospital machines use cesium-137, especially in the treatment of gynaecological cancers. It is also used in blood sterilising equipment.
One of the main industrial uses is measuring the thickness of steel or on production lines to signal when a can of drink is full.
An Environment Agency spokesman said: "There is already a strong regulatory regime in place. We work with Government on this issue and with counter terrorism advisers to ensure it is kept securely."
Are there no farms in the UK? Crikey! Pretty much anyone in ‘Ag Country’ can get their hands on fertilizer and gasoline any day of the week, no questions asked. Even after the OKC bombing the Feds only tracked fertilizer sales for a few minutes...
Show of hands. Who amongst us doesn’t think acts of terrorism are going to escalate in the near future for many decades to come while our elected representatives sit on their hands and worry that we might be accidentally “wire tapping” terrorists?
Anyone? Buhler? Buhler? Yeesh!
They clearly show several legit uses for Cs137, but offer no alternative.
What will women with cervical cancer do without Cs? What will the steelmakers use for thickness gages?
What do they propose- cobalt-60?
The other famous legend involves an abandoned Brazilian hospital. An irradiator was removed and dismantled, kids played with the grey powder they found inside capsules cased in tungsten (a shield). They sprinkled Cs137 on themselves because it sparkled in the dark.
In the mid-60's when I was on merchant ships, many were old WW2 freighters and I kept noticing these slots at the bottom of each entrance hatch. I asked an old timer what they were and he said that during the war they contained 'glow plates' that emitted a dull glow at night so that the sailors could locate the entrance when the ship was steaming 'all lights out.'
Anyway, he went on to tell me that after the war many of the sailors took the 'glow plates' and made belt buckles, bracelets and necklaces out of them. Apparently a big problem as many people were burned from the radiation.
Radium plates..
along with all the guys that when blind several years after being on the radar array painting details.. (microwaving their eyeballs)
OK, so radioactive cesium is a deadly poison. So are about a skillion non radioactive chemicals which aren’t any harder to get.
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