From: Mark Holm 
To: mlbrown{at}everstrive.com, atm{at}shore.net
Reply-To: Mark Holm 


> Meanwhile I just realized that cerium oxide probably isn't a good thing to
> have floating around the house these days (even though I am pretty neat
> about it).
>

I haven't read anything indicating cerium oxide is toxic, and I don't
recall anybody on the atm list saying so.  It probably does contain a quite
small trace
of radioactivity, but this is a well known problem that has been worked on for a
long time, and the consensus of both the pro's, the amateurs, the radiation
health physics guys and the Feds is that the amount and type of radioactive
material in current cerium oxide products isn't enough to worry about. 
There were some products on the market some time back that were hot enough
that one should have been more careful with them, but they are off the
market now. Sometimes someone digging in the back of a closet turns some
up, but if you bought your supplies reasonably recently, there shouldn't be
a problem.

Mark Holm
mdholm{at}telerama.com

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