Tungsten, or 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover
Tungsten is in many everyday weapons, from bullets to golf clubs to "armor penetrators." But wait! There's more! From Science Daily and Chemical Engineering News comes word that tungsten might be more dangerous than we thought.
The military thought it would be safe to use tungsten in the manufacturing of "green bullets" (safe except, of course,when the bullets killed people) but recent research has suggested that the chemical has nasty side effects on plants (stunted growth), earthworms (reproductive problems) and aquatic creatures (premature death).
We currently use tungsten for everything from light bulbs to wedding bands . It is also used to make very tough metal alloys, and to keep your clothes from catching fire. And it's in coal ash too, which, turns out, might not be so good for us.
Thankfully, nothing has yet absolutely proved that tungsten is really, really bad for humans. This Department of Health and Human Services Tox FAQs page gives very little to indicate that you should be concerned about Tungsten. I feel like a bit of healthy skepticism might be in order.
That's because this report from the University of Washington says early on that "Exposure to tungsten is associated with childhood leukemia and other adverse health effects, both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic."
In addition, recently a mysterious rash of leukemia in Fallon, Nevada, has been linked with elevated levels of tungsten and cobalt in nearby trees. This leukemia cluster has been blamed on all kinds of chemicals, from arsenic to some of the materials used to make jet fuel for the Naval Air Station that is a large part of the town's economy. No one wants to say absolutely what caused the cluster, though.
I don't know either. But I'm going to stay away from green bullets, for now.
The military thought it would be safe to use tungsten in the manufacturing of "green bullets" (safe except, of course,when the bullets killed people) but recent research has suggested that the chemical has nasty side effects on plants (stunted growth), earthworms (reproductive problems) and aquatic creatures (premature death).
We currently use tungsten for everything from light bulbs to wedding bands . It is also used to make very tough metal alloys, and to keep your clothes from catching fire. And it's in coal ash too, which, turns out, might not be so good for us.
Thankfully, nothing has yet absolutely proved that tungsten is really, really bad for humans. This Department of Health and Human Services Tox FAQs page gives very little to indicate that you should be concerned about Tungsten. I feel like a bit of healthy skepticism might be in order.
That's because this report from the University of Washington says early on that "Exposure to tungsten is associated with childhood leukemia and other adverse health effects, both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic."
In addition, recently a mysterious rash of leukemia in Fallon, Nevada, has been linked with elevated levels of tungsten and cobalt in nearby trees. This leukemia cluster has been blamed on all kinds of chemicals, from arsenic to some of the materials used to make jet fuel for the Naval Air Station that is a large part of the town's economy. No one wants to say absolutely what caused the cluster, though.
I don't know either. But I'm going to stay away from green bullets, for now.
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