[ RadSafe ] James Salsman's first posting to RADSAFE

[Steven Dapra]

August 17, 2008

	Today I became curious enough about James Salsman's (JS) history on 
RADSAFE to search the archives.  He made his first posting here on Dec. 12 
or 13, 2004.  He got off to a good start, implicitly blasting members of 
the Health Physics Society and broadcasting his self-righteousness.

	"I have just found this mailing list today, and I have read the archives 
for about the last month.  I am under the impression that many Health 
Physics Society members read and contribute to this RADSAFE mailing 
list.  The extent to which those with a financial interest in uranium 
commerce of one kind or another have repeatedly been attempting to 
influence the determination of what should rightfully be the province of 
the peer-reviewed medical literature has not gone unnoticed.  I have 
decided to hold the authors of some of the most egregious examples of 
apologism personally accountable for their errors of commission here and in 
other fora."  (I don't know where JS got the idea he was entitled to hold 
anyone personally responsible for anything, but what do I know.)

	He put the RAND Corporation in its place by denouncing its study on 
uranium inhalation:  "The RAND study on uranium inhalation was flawed in 
two ways.  First, it described in quantitative terms effects of the low 
level of radiation from uranium projectile munitions, to the exclusion of 
similar quantification of uranium metal toxicity.  Second, it ignored the 
uranium nitrates and other soluble compounds."

	Salsman appears to have done a literature search of all the Health Physics 
Society's literature, for he says, "None of the publications of the Health 
Physics Society have directly addressed the aerosol dispersion of uranyl 
nitrate, some having gone so far to consider only the oxides to the 
exclusion of the nitrate."

	Continuing with the HPS he says, "Moreover, there is nothing on the Health 
Physics Society web site directly stating that uranium attacks any organ 
other than the kidneys, when it is known to accumulate in the bone (with 
the U232 isotope embedded permanently, with no half-life of organ 
clearance) and in the testicles, which explains the 5% incidence rate of 
birth defects reported about 1999 when compared to the 3% rate in the 
population as a whole."  Naturally JS cites no literature to support his 
five percent incidence rate, or to prove that testicular uranium causes an 
increase in birth defects.

	But James has everything covered, even the fish in the Indian 
Ocean.  "More pressing is the issue of indirect contamination of Indian 
Ocean fish.  What are we going to do about people who want to eat fish from 
any of the Tigris and Euphrates' tributaries, up to and including the 
Indian Ocean?  At the rate UO3 and uranyl nitrate flow into the groundwater 
and streams, we should already be able to detect unsafe levels of uranium 
in the skeletons of Persian Gulf fish."  To support this claim, he invokes 
Ernest Sternglass, writing in 1971.

	The hyperbole never ends either:  "I estimate that at least 40,000,000 
have already lost more than half of their remaining life expectancy to 
cancers alone (i.e., not counting the obvious immune system damage or any 
of the birth defects) from uranium inhalation and secondary food chain 
contamination."

	You can read more of James' florid fulminating at this 
link:  <http://radlab.nl/radsafe/archives/0412/msg00212.html>.

Steven Dapra