How Exposure Becomes Dose

Potential Health Risks to DOD Firing-Range Personnel 

Juhasz (1977) qualitatively demonstrated that lead-based ammunition was associated with the generation of particles ranging from under 0.3 to 100 pm most of the particles were smaller than 1 pm. That observation is similar to results regarding the particle size of copper associated with the use of lead-based or lead-free frangible ammunition. For example, the Air Force Institute for Occupational Health (AFIOH 2008) reported that most airborne copper particles associated with an M4 rifle muzzle blast have an aerodynamic diameter under 5 pm. The committee was unable to obtain similar quantitative data on particle size distributions associated with lead-based ammunition used in different small-arms weapons. 

CaNa2EDTA), and oral chelating agents, such as 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (commonly referred to as DMSA) (Graziano et al. 1985). A much smaller proportion of absorbed lead is excreted in feces, sweat, breast milk, seminal fluid, and hair. 

FIGURE 3-1 Compartmental model for lead (modified from O Flaherty 1993). The percentages shown represent the fractions of lead found in different tissue compartments. Used with permission of Brian Schwartz, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

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