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Eating uranium is a bad idea, as you probably guessed. Fortunately for people, most uranium that is ingested will pass relatively quickly through the digestive tract, but some may be absorbed. Absorbed uranium poses a hazard, and the amount of uranium ingested would have to be quantified to make an assessment. Breathing uranium, which is a separate issue, is much more hazardous.

There will be variations in the amounts of uranium absorbed by the body that will depend on whether the ingested material is uranium metal or whether it is a compound of this actinide. Organic compounds will be absorbed more readily than, say, uranium oxide. Further, the uranium that gets uptaken may be deposited in the bones, the liver or other places.

The long term effect of absorbed uranium is that is may be in someone for a while and present a radiation hazard. We know that uranium is radioactive, though weakly. If uranium is deposited in tissue, it may stay there for a while. Radioactive decay will leave decay products, which are also radioactive, stuck within the affected tissue. Anyone who "takes in" uranium may be in store for some body scans to assess damage and what risks the future may hold. It is a challenge to quantify the amount of uranium that a person may have within him, and medical assessment will depend on a good workup.

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14y ago

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