Answer to Question #2590 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

I have a question in regards to arthritis and uranium exposure. Is it possible that exposure from uranium from mining can lead to other unknown effects on the body that we do not yet understand?

A

Uranium has had an interesting history with respect to arthritis. Some
people believe that exposure to radiation from uranium can cure or be
beneficial to arthritis. There are even mines in the United States,
Europe, and elsewhere in the world where people pay for the privilege
of going down into the mine for a short time, during which they receive
a higher-than-normal dose of radiation from the various naturally
occurring radioactive elements (e.g., uranium, thorium, radium) in the
mine. The doses they receive are small, and there is no scientific
evidence that this extra exposure to radiation cures arthritis or
relieves the symptoms.




To answer the specific question you posed, scientists are always open
to the possibility that new and unimagined discoveries can occur, for
in a sense, this is what science is all about. For example, the
discovery of radioactivity in the naturally occurring elements of the
earth such as uranium was totally unexpected and unpredictable, and
occurred more than 100 years after uranium itself was discovered. So
for more than a century, people knew of uranium and used it for various
purposes without ever imagining that one day it would be discovered
that this rather ordinary metal had an extraordinary property that we
now understand and call radioactivity. Thus, from the point of view of
a scientist, the answer to your question must be: Yes, it is possible
that exposure to uranium from mining could lead to other unknown
effects on the body that we do not yet understand. But to the related
question of whether such discoveries are likely, or likely to be of
significance from a health standpoint, given our present knowledge, the
answer would have to be no.




Ronald L. Kathren, CHP

Professor Emeritus

Washington State University