Firing-Range Environments

Potential Health Risks to DOD Firing-Range Personnel 

Indoor ranges typically have specially constracted back walls or birllet traps, roofs, and side walls. Outdoor ranges may have concrete tubes to prevent stray shots (such as 10-m machine gun ranges), may lack a backstop to allow roimds to travel to their maximum range, or may be designed as fully or partially contained ranges (combination of side walls, bullet trap, canopy baffle, and 

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The extent to which occupational oral exposure to lead-based dusts found in the firing-range environment by hand-to-mouth contact contributes to total lead body burden has not been adequately characterized. 

In conventional ammunition lead, antimony, and barium are emitted when the ammunition is discharged. These three elements are undesirable from a health viewpoint and pose a major problem for firearms instructors in indoor firing ranges, as they are exposed to an unhealthy environment each working day. To solve this problem Dynamit Nobel AG developed a nontoxic primer composition called Sintox. Lead styphnate is replaced by 2-diazo-4,6-dinitrophenol (diazole) and the barium nitrate and antimony sulfide are replaced by a mixture of zinc peroxide and titanium metal powder. 

Groom CA et al., Accumulation of HMX (octahydro-l,3,5,7-tetranitro-l,3,5,7-tetrazo-cine) in indigenous and agricultural plants grown in HMX-contaminated anti-tank firing range soil, Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 112, 2002. 

Robidoux PY et al., Toxicity assessment of contaminated soils from an antitank firing range, Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf, 58, 300, 2004. 

SussELL A and Ashley K (2002) Field measurement of lead in workplace air and paint chip samples by ultrasonic extraction and portable anodic stripping voltammetry. J Environ Monit 4 156—161. SvENSSON BG, Sghutz a, Nilsson A and Skerfv-ING S (1992) Lead exposure in indoor firing ranges. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 64 219-221. Thornton 1, Davies DJA, Watt JM and Quinn MJ (1990) Lead exposure in young children from dust and soil in the United Kingdom. Environ Health Perspect 89 55-60. 

Svensson, B.G., A. Schiltz, A. Nilsson, and S. Skerfving. 1992. Lead exposure in indoor firing ranges. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 64(4) 219-221. 

Half-lives span a very wide range (Table 17.5). Consider strontium-90, for which the half-life is 28 a. This nuclide is present in nuclear fallout, the fine dust that settles from clouds of airborne particles after the explosion of a nuclear bomb, and may also be present in the accidental release of radioactive materials into the air. Because it is chemically very similar to calcium, strontium may accompany that element through the environment and become incorporated into bones once there, it continues to emit radiation for many years. About 10 half-lives (for strontium-90, 280 a) must pass before the activity of a sample has fallen to 1/1000 of its initial value. Iodine-131, which was released in the accidental fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, has a half-life of only 8.05 d, but it accumulates in the thyroid gland. Several cases of thyroid cancer have been linked to iodine-131 exposure from the accident. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24 ka (24000 years). Consequently, very long term storage facilities are required for plutonium waste, and land contaminated with plutonium cannot be inhabited again for thousands of years without expensive remediation efforts. 

Flame retardants in printed circuit boards partnership. Circuit boards are commonly used in electronics in consumer and industrial products, including computers and cell phones. In order to ensure fire safety, manufacturers commonly produce circuit boards with flame-retardant chemicals. While serving an important performance function, some flame-retardant chemicals can be harmful if released into the environment. To better understand the issues and the full range of options for flame-retarding circuit boards, DfE is engaging with the electronics industry and other stakeholders in a partnership. 

ARCILLA RESEARCH is a small, Dutch-based, technology enterprise which has developed a special body of techniques and materials based on a mineral binder system, whereby products with ceramic-like properties are cured rather than fired. In partnership with industry, university and government institutions, Arcilla is developing innovative products and systems to meet high technical specifications and which impact upon the environment, physical resources and mass needs. The mineral binder system and range of new materials are neither cements nor ceramics yet offer many of the advantages of both. Three units have... 

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