[ RadSafe ] Salsman's "dozen reports" about Gulf War DU

[Steven Dapra]

July 9

	On June 27 James Salsman (JS) wrote, "I can give you a dozen reports, 
e.g., at least ten from Dr. Melissa McDairmid's group alone, which claim no 
increase in cancer incidence rates in uranium-exposed Gulf War veterans."

	On July 3, JS gave citations to 12 papers about DU exposure, medical 
surveillance of Gulf War vets, and health effects in these vets; and to one 
editorial by McDiarmid in the British Medical Journal.  (The 13 citations 
will be found at the end of this message.)  I have read the abstracts, 
discussions, or conclusions of nine items.  I did not look at the 
Philosophical Transactions, Anal Bioanal Chem, or the two Military Medicines.

	The Health Physics papers were about chemical effects of uranium, not 
about radiation effects, and about surveillance of veterans (2005); about 
urine monitoring of vets (2004); about U levels in urine of vets (2001); 
and about the methodology of urine collection (1999).  None of them 
discussed cancer incidence, or any disease incidence, and the 2001 paper 
specifically said that so far no adverse health effects had been seen.

	To simplify matters somewhat, none of these papers (or the editorial) said 
anything about increases in cancer incidence rates in DU-exposed Gulf War 
veterans.  Some of them said nothing about cancer, and those that mentioned 
it said very little.  What they said was that no "clinical abnormalities" 
had been observed (Int. Arch Occup Environ Health), or that there were no 
adverse health findings.

	The closest anyone came to saying anything significant was McDiarmid et 
al. (J Occup. Environ Med).  Concerning this study of 50 veterans, the 
authors wrote that there were "subtle but biologically plausible 
perturbations in central nervous system function," however they did not 
find anything definite.

	The dozen reports did not "claim no increase" in cancer among Gulf War 
veterans.  I suppose Salsman will say that since the reports didn't say 
there *was* an increase that is tantamount to claiming no increase.  Well . 
. . that would be a silly and trite argument.

Steven Dapra
sjd at swcp.com


CITATIONS

Squibb KS, McDiarmid MA. "Depleted uranium exposure and health effects in 
Gulf War veterans." Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2006 Apr 
29;361(1468):639-48. PMID: 16687268

Squibb KS, Leggett RW, McDiarmid MA. "Prediction of renal concentrations of 
depleted uranium and radiation dose in Gulf War veterans with embedded 
shrapnel." Health Phys. 2005 Sep;89(3):267-73. PMID: 16096502

McDiarmid MA, Engelhardt SM, Oliver M, Gucer P, Wilson PD, Kane R, Kabat M, 
Kaup B, Anderson L, Hoover D, Brown L, Albertini RJ, Gudi R, Jacobson-Kram 
D, Thorne CD, Squibb KS. "Biological monitoring and surveillance results of 
Gulf War I veterans exposed to depleted uranium." Int Arch Occup Environ 
Health. 2006 Jan;79(1):11-21. Epub 2005 Aug 2. PMID: 16075297

Ejnik JW, Todorov TI, Mullick FG, Squibb K, McDiarmid MA, Centeno JA. 
"Uranium analysis in urine by inductively coupled plasma dynamic reaction 
cell mass spectrometry." Anal Bioanal Chem. 2005 May;382(1):73-9. Epub 2005 
Apr 15. PMID: 15900454

McDiarmid MA, Squibb K, Engelhardt SM. "Biologic monitoring for urinary 
uranium in gulf war I veterans." Health Phys. 2004 Jul;87(1):51-6. PMID: 
15194922

McDiarmid MA, Engelhardt S, Oliver M, Gucer P, Wilson PD, Kane R, Kabat M, 
Kaup B, Anderson L, Hoover D, Brown L, Handwerger B, Albertini RJ, 
Jacobson-Kram D, Thorne CD, Squibb KS. "Health effects of depleted uranium 
on exposed Gulf War veterans: a 10-year follow-up." J Toxicol Environ 
Health A. 2004 Feb 27;67(4):277-96. PMID: 14713562

McDiarmid MA, Hooper FJ, Squibb K, McPhaul K, Engelhardt SM, Kane R, DiPino 
R, Kabat M. "Health effects and biological monitoring results of Gulf War 
veterans exposed to depleted uranium." Mil Med. 2002 Feb;167(2 
Suppl):123-4. PMID: 11873493

Hodge SJ, Ejnik J, Squibb KS, McDiarmid MA, Morris ER, Landauer MR, McClain 
DE. "Detection of depleted uranium in biological samples from Gulf War 
veterans." Mil Med. 2001 Dec;166(12 Suppl):69-70.
PMID: 11778443

McDiarmid MA, Squibb K, Engelhardt S, Oliver M, Gucer P, Wilson PD, Kane R, 
Kabat M, Kaup B, Anderson L, Hoover D, Brown L, Jacobson-Kram D; Depleted 
Uranium Follow-Up Program. "Surveillance of depleted uranium exposed Gulf 
War veterans: health effects observed in an enlarged 'friendly fire' 
cohort." J Occup Environ Med. 2001 Dec;43(12):991-1000.
PMID: 11765683

McDiarmid MA, Engelhardt SM, Oliver M. "Urinary uranium concentrations in 
an enlarged Gulf War veteran cohort." Health Phys. 2001 Mar;80(3):270-3. 
PMID: 11219540

McDiarmid MA. "Depleted uranium and public health." BMJ. 2001 Jan 
20;322(7279):123-4. PMID: 11159557  [editorial]

McDiarmid MA, Keogh JP, Hooper FJ, McPhaul K, Squibb K, Kane R, DiPino R, 
Kabat M, Kaup B, Anderson L, Hoover D, Brown L, Hamilton M, Jacobson-Kram 
D, Burrows B, Walsh M. "Health effects of depleted uranium on exposed Gulf 
War veterans." Environ Res. 2000 Feb;82(2):168-80.
PMID: 10662531

McDiarmid MA, Hooper FJ, Squibb K, McPhaul K. "The utility of spot 
collection for urinary uranium determinations in depleted uranium exposed 
Gulf War veterans." Health Phys. 1999 Sep;77(3):261-4. PMID: 10456496