starship-design: Re: Bugs again

[Timothy van der Linden <Shealiak@XS4ALL.nl>]

Kelly,

>>Only substances that already are present in the human body, or substances
>>that look like substances present in the human body will not be attacked.
>
>Not true.  Many subnstances trigger no reaction if imbeded.  (Medical
implants
>naturally use a lot of them.  Many microbes (generally harmless) are ignored
>by the body and trigger no reaction.  Until the immune system detects
>something like a virus is dangerous it triggers no reaction.

One of the actions that the body can undertake against a foreign body is
encapsulation. This is what happens with medical implants, the body will
try to close in the implant. (As will happen with bullets that are not
removed.)
Microbes are not ignored, unless they have proteins at their outside that
make them look as if they are part of the body.

>>Poisons that work over years are usually substances that are present in our
>>bodies, but normally in small quantities. 
>
>No I was thinking more along the line of heavy metal contamination, where te
>bodies processes are disrupted chemically, but our bodies have no natural
>ability to purge them.

Heavy metals are what I intended. They are present in our body in small
quantities, often to work as catalysts. But in too large quantities these
metals will make certain essential chemical reactions impossible.

Timothy