Determination of plutonium in human feces.

The toxic effects of plutonium on the human body depend on a considerable number of physical and biological factors. One of the most important biological factors is the rate of elimination of plutonium from the body. The ratio of fecal to urinary excretion of plutonium by the rat is of the order of 10: 1. This is, indeed, a favorable ratio. Preliminary information, however, indicates that the excretion ratio for the human is much less favorable. It is imperative that the fecal excretion of plutonium by the human and the ratio of fecal to urinary output be carefully determined. Information on these factors was extremely limited, partially because of the difficulty of analyzing human feces for extremely small amounts of plutonium. This report presents a relatively accurate and consistent method of analyzing human feces for trace amounts of plutonium and some of the experiences of this laboratory during the process of developing such a method.