A UC Davis nuclear physicist reports finding biologically dangerousmetals in Kuwaiti oil at much higher concentrations than some experts previously believed existed. Thomas Cahill, director of the Air Quality Group at Crocker Nuclear Lab, and his colleagues recently analyzed samples from eight Kuwaiti oil fields. Using a cyclotron, the researchers measured the chemical elements of the crude oil and its byproducts when ignited in their lab. "Some of the earlier estimates of trace metals are grossly in error," Cahill says. "These metals will have biological impacts that last well after Kuwaiti oil fires are over." Possibly reaching as far as Hawaii, the toxic trace elements include vanadium, nickle, mercury and molybdenum, Cahill says. The analyzed samples represent approximately half of the country's oil fields, according to nuclear physicist Jeff Schweitzer, a scientific adviser for Schlumberger-Doll Research who provided the samples. At least three-quarters of the samples were drawn from fields with burning wells, Schweitzer says. Cahill will present the new oil aerosol data on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 29, at a symposium on the use of ion beams in analysis. Used by labs around the world, these techniques and protocols developed at UC Davis are being used to monitor air quality around the globe.