No Magic Bullet: Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat.

No Magic Bullet: Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat.

by Charles W. Schmidt
In response to concerns about the human and environmental health effects of materials used to produce munitions, countries including the United States have begun replacing some lead- and depleted uranium-based munitions with alternatives made of a tungsten alloy. But this solution may not be the "magic bullet" it was once envisioned to be. Researchers from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research now report that weapons-grade tungsten alloy produces aggressive metastatic tumors when surgically implanted into the muscles of rats [EHP 113:729-734]. These findings raise new questions about the possible consequences of tungsten exposure, and undermine the view that tungsten alloy is a nontoxic alternative to depleted uranium and lead.
In the study, male F344 rats were implanted with pellets in each hind leg, an exposure protocol that mimicked shrapnel wounds received in the field. The rats were split into four treatment groups: a negative control implanted with 10 pellets of tantalum (an inert metal), a positive control implanted with 10 pellets of nickel (a known carcinogen), a high-dose group implanted with 10 pellets of tungsten alloy, and a low-dose group implanted with 4 pellets of tungsten alloy and 16 pellets of tantalum. The alloy used in this research was the same as that used in weapons: 91.1% tungsten, 6.0% nickel, and 2.9% cobalt.
Hanns CEO/Chinatungten।com