Uranium (U)

Uranium (U) in the hair typically reflects levels of U in other tissues in the body. But the hair may be externally contaminated by shampoos or hair products that contain U.

U is very abundant in rock, particularly granite. U is present in ground (drinking) water, root vegetables, and in high phosphate fertilizers.

Sources of U include:

1. ceramics
2. some colored glass
3. many household products
4. uranyl acetate (negative stain used in biology slides)
5. weaponry – bullets and missile heads
6. nuclear power plants

Uranyl compounds bind easily to proteins, nucleotides, and bone where it substitutes for calcium. Little research has been done, but it appears that U exposure correlates with all forms of cancer. The kidney and bones are primary sites for U accumulation. U is rapidly cleared from the blood and deposited in tissues.

All isotopes of U are radioactive. U238 is the most abundant and lowest energy transmitter. The Soviets began using ingestible French Green Clay in the 1980s as an  form of U removal from the body. To date, the former Soviet nuclear power plant Chernobyl is buried under a landfill of French Green Clay used to absorb the radiation from its meltdown in the 1980s.