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