Uranium toxicity in The Merck Index, Eleventh Edition

The following text is from the final two paragraphs of the entry for uranium, taken directly from the printed book.

The Merck Index, ELEVENTH EDITION, Centennial Edition,
Susan Budavari, Editor
Maryadele J. O'Neil, Associate Editor
Ann Smith, Assistant Editor
Patricia E. Heckelman, Editorial Assistant
Published by MERCK & CO., INC. RAHWAY N.J.,U.S.A. 1989, page 1551

Caution: Uranium and its salts are highly toxic. Dermatitis, renal damage, acute necrotic arterial lesions, death may occur. Radiation hazard from inhalation of fine particles of approx 1µ. Insol particles in lung may be long-term carcinogenic hazard. See L.T. Fairhall, Industrial Toxicology (Hafner, New York, 2nd ed., 1969) pp 129-131.

USE: ²³⁵U is used in atom and hydrogen bombs. ²³⁴U and ²³⁵U are used as nuclear fuel in power reactors.

Related articles

• Press cutting 14 Jun 2002

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  Private Eye, No. 1056, 14 June - 27 June 2002, p26
• Press cutting 30 Dec 1993

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  Simon Tisdall, Guardian, 30 December 1993, page 11

External links

• The Observer article: Gulf veteran babies 'risk deformities' Nic Fleming and Mark Townsend, The Observer, Sunday 11 August 2002
• BBC article: Depleted uranium: the lingering poison Alex Kirby, BBC, 7 June, 1999
• Guardian article: Death crash jet carried poison gas Stephen Bates, Guardian, 4 February 1999 (El Al jumbo jet which crashed into a block of flats in Amsterdam in 1992 was carrying DMMP, used to make sarin. It also had uranium ballast)
• Mosaic Science article: How the mafia is causing cancer Ian Birrell, Mosaic Science, 23 June 2016 (Includes US navy finding “worrying levels of uranium in 5 per cent of samples” around Naples)