[ RadSafe ] Salsman, and Hindin's 74 studies

[Steven Dapra]

January 16, 2007

RADSAFers:

On 1/15/07, Roger Helbig (RH) wrote:
"all Hindin did was review studies recommended by the Traprock Peace Center"

James Salsman (JS) wrote:
"Are you suggesting that the 74 studies Hindin and her coauthors cite
are not comprehensive? What would you add to them?"

My Comments:

         RH did not say the 74 studies are not comprehensive. He said all 
Hindin did was review studies recommended by Traprock (an anti-DU 
organization). (And define the word comprehensive.)

         JS made a mistake when he dragged out the "74" studies.  I looked 
at the list of references and found the following:

Articles in the popular press: fns. 6, 58, and 59.
Anti-DU articles:  fns. 1, 5, 8, 39, 60, 61, 62, and 71.
Symposiums and conferences:  fns 25, 44, 45, and 47.
Reference book, not about DU or U: fn 36
Letters about events in New Mexico: fn 38.
Another letter: fn 63.

         That's 18 "studies" that are not studies at all.  There are some 
additional citations to material that is probably not studies (such as 
reports by the Iraqi government), but you get the point.  That lowers the 
74 studies to around 50.  Sure, 50 studies is a lot of studies, but it's 
not 74.  Furthermore, one would have to read all the studies and ascertain 
how well they conform to what Hindin and her co-authors claim for them.

RH:
"their article was not peer reviewed"

JS:
"That's completely false. Environmental Health is a peer-reviewed
journal recognized as such by MEDLINE, CAS, CABI, Scopus, and Embase,
with a professional and qualified editorial board" (URL edited)

My Comments:

         I will let RH address this.

RH:
you will also note that Hindin quickly dropped off the radar screen

JS:
"Nonsense, she's a PhD MPH epidemiologist and faculty at the University
of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences at
Amherst, and she has been publishing since the 1970s. (Hindin's e-mail 
address edited)

My Comments:

         Hindin's being a PhD MPH, etc., etc., has nothing to do with 
whether or not she dropped off the radar screen.  Has she published 
anything on DU since her co-authored expose in Environmental Health?  That 
would be one good way of determining whether or not she's still on the 
radar screen.

Steven Dapra
sjd at swcp.com