[ RadSafe ] Project Censured conclusions are refuted

[Holloway3 at aol.com]

Fellow activists,
 
Part of the conclusions used in the Project Censured awards now appear  to be 
erroneous.  A year or so ago, Dr. Durakovic, of the UMRC, offered the  
opinion that the somewhat elevated uranium found in 8 civilians from Afghanistan  
were from the use of weapons made of natural (not depleted) uranium.  I  wrote 
him a private letter about a year ago suggesting that the most likely  source 
of this elevated uranium was naturally occurring uranium in drinking  water.  
He did not reply to my letter.  However, this spring, in April  of 2005, he 
published a more complete paper on his results in Military  Medicine.  
Interestingly, in this paper he reported drastically elevated  uranium in drinking water 
from the same area. 
 
The crucial bit of evidence is that he found extremely  high levels of 
uranium in drinking water. The levels in drinking water AVERAGED  above 23,000 
nanograms per liter. The level in urine in Afghan civilians, which  he previously 
thought was so high, averaged 275 nanograms per liter.  Any  idiot can see that 
the most likely source of the uranium in urine is the  drinking water.  It is 
about 80 times higher than the concentration in  urine.  

These drinking water results are the smoking gun that  solves the minor 
mystery of the elevated amounts of uranium in the 8 Afghan  civilians. Durakovic 
really should have discussed the elevated drinking water  levels in the abstract 
but perhaps he found it uncomfortable to do so. He does  discuss them to some 
extent in the paper itself but fails to draw the obvious  conclusion, that 
drinking water is the source of the elevated uranium in his  eight human 
subjects. He undoubtedly must recognize that, although he is loath  to admit it. His 
paper is available on the internet and the link can be found in  a recent DU- 
Watch posting but I have a hard time finding that link again, so I  cannot 
post the link here. 
The abstract gives a fairly accurate account of  his work with the 
astonishing exception of the omission of the drinking water  results. Apparently Dr. 
Durakovic still likes his original fanciful  interpretation even though it is 
starkly contradicted by his own drinking water  results. 

The following is the abstract of the paper written by Dr. Durakovic.  He 
omits any mention of the crucial drinking water results, although these  results 
are included in the full paper.  

Abstract: 

The  purpose of this study was to determine the concentrations and precise 
isotopic  compositions of four uranium isotopes (234U, 235U, 236U, and 238U) in 
urine  specimens from the civilian population of Afghanistan after Allied 
Forces  Operation Enduring Freedom. Eight male civilians from Nangarhar-Jalalabad 
region  who presented with symptoms of fatigue, fever, musculoskeletal and 
neurological  alterations, headaches, and respiratory impairment after inhalation 
of dust  during the bombing raids in June 2002 had urine samples collected 
under  controlled conditions and analyzed in duplicate for 234U, 235U, 236U, and 
238U,  with multicollector, inductively coupled, plasma ionization mass 
spectrometry.  Control samples with an internal urine standard were analyzed with 
the same  method. The mean concentration of uranium in eight samples was found 
to be  considerably greater (275.04 ng/L; SD, 137.80 ng/L; SE, 48.72 ng/L) 
than what is  regarded as a reference range (1–20 ng/L). The 238U/235U ratio was 
137.87 ±  0.20, which is consistent with that of natural uranium. The 
234U/238U ratio for  the Afghan samples was 0.000055 ± 0.000001, also consistent with 
natural  uranium. 236U, which usually forms a component of depleted uranium, 
was not  detected (measured 236U/238U ratio, <10-7). Our results demonstrate 
that  contamination in Afghanistan with a source consistent with natural uranium 
has  resulted in total uranium concentrations up to 100 times higher than the 
normal  range for various geographic and environmental areas throughout the 
world. The  cause of our findings is currently being evaluated as a part of our 
ongoing  research. 
..............................................................................
.............................................
 
The following is how Project Censured described the research in its  early 
stages, with conclusions which now appear to be obsolete based on the  latest 
results published by Dr. Durakovic.  Goes to show that when you hear  hoof beats 
on the deck above, one should not think of Zebras.  
 
>>  > > INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE, March  2004
>>  > > Title: "International Criminal Tribune  For
>>  > Afghanistan At Tokyo, The
>>  > >  People vs. George Bush"
>>  > > Author: Professor Ms  Niloufer Bhagwat J.
>>  > >
>>  > >  Evaluator: Jennifer Lillig, Ph.D.
>>  > > Student  Researcher: Kenny Crosbie
>>  > >
>>  >  > Civilian populations in Afghanistan and Iraq and
>>  >  occupying troops
>>  > > have been contaminated with  astounding levels of
>>  > radioactive  depleted
>>  > > and non-depleted uranium as a result  of
>>  post-9/11
>>  > United States'  use
>>  > > of tons of uranium munitions. Researchers  say
>>  > surrounding countries
>>  > > are  bound to feel the effects as well.
>>  > > In 2003  scientists from the Uranium Medical
>>  > Research Center  (UMRC)
>>  > > studied urine samples of Afghan civilians  and
>>  > found that 100% of the
>>  > >  samples taken had levels of non-depleted uranium
>>  > (NDU)  400% to 2000%
>>  > > higher than normal levels. The UMRC  research
>>  team
>>  > studied six  sites,
>>  > > two in Kabul and others in the Jalalabad  area.
>>  The
>>  > civilians  were
>>  > > tested four months after the attacks  in
>>  > Afghanistan by the United
>>  > >  States and its allies.