[ RadSafe ] SCAREMONGERING FOR FUN AND PROFIT --RE: The Bereted Wonder and his Pills

Mon Nov 21 19:19:05 CST 2011

Brent, you're right. There is a significant difference between Bruce Busby
and Chris Busby!

Regards,

Sandy

-----------------------------------
Sander C. Perle 
President
Mirion Technologies
Dosimetry Services Division
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
+1 (949) 296-1130 (Fax)

Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/

On 11/21/11 5:15 PM, "Brent Rogers" <brent.rogers at optusnet.com.au> wrote:

>CHRIS Busby, not Bruce.
>
>Brevity alert: Sent from my iPad
>
>On 22/11/2011, at 11:47, Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> The current article in the Guardian:
>>
>> [ 
>>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/21/christopher-busby-radia
>>tion-pills-fukushima
>>
>> --Post-Fukushima 'anti-radiation' pills condemned by scientists - Green
>>party distances itself from Dr Christopher Busby]
>>
>> highlighted scaremongering and crude profiteering by Bruce Busby and
>>the so-called "Busby Foundation for the Children of Fukushima".
>>
>> One would have hoped  that any academic institution such as the
>>University or Ulster, would have previously severed any relationship
>>with any party or entity making such unsupported claims with the goal of
>>misleading and terrifying the Japanese people. Busby is apparently too
>>extreme even for the Greens!
>>
>> There are many institutions, with which various unethical people have
>>claimed a loose affiliation, that should immediately make clear to the
>>public and media that they do not tolerate such crude and cynical
>>violations of basic standards of intellectual honesty, and publically
>>sever any claimed relationship.
>>
>> My undergraduate university had a running joke about a fictional
>>character, a "Dr. Josiah S[tinkney] Carberry", Professor Emeritus of
>>PsychoCeramics  [i.e.: The study of Cracked Pots]. In a gag running
>>since 1929, Dr. Carberry would be spotted on campus every Friday 13th.
>>Dr. Josiah S. Carberry, would be photographed turning a corner, etc., or
>>a lecture scheduled for which he never showed up. Cracked pots would be
>>set up all over campus into which students tossed spare change.
>>
>> Unfortunately, our most noted Radsafe example of a visiting Professor
>>of PsychoCeramics, who has been working so diligently to scare the
>>people of Japan and trying to get press coverage for himself by making
>>extreme and unsupported quasi-scientific claims, is much more than a
>>Friday 13th joke.
>>
>> Any University  which is not seeking to have their own Emeritus
>>Professorsip of PsychoCeramics should terminate their relationship with
>>radiological scaremongers if their institution is not to be viewed quite
>>simply, as an academic joke. To read a summary of the purely
>>good-intentioned, academic joke at Brown about its Emeritus Professor of
>>PsychoCeramics, see:
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_S._Carberry
>>
>>
>> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
>> Bridgeport, CT 06604
>> SAFarber at optonline.net
>> 203-441-8433
>>
>>
>> ========================
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>>[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jaro Franta
>> Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 2:27 PM
>> To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
>>List'
>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] SCAREMONGERING FOR FUN AND PROFIT --RE: The
>>Bereted Wonder and his Pills
>>
>> A new article in the media....
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/21/christopher-busby-radia
>>tion-pills-fukushima
>>
>> Post-Fukushima 'anti-radiation' pills condemned by scientists
>> Green party distances itself from Dr Christopher Busby, a former
>>spokesman promoting products following Japanese nuclear disaster
>> George Monbiot and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
>> guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 November 2011 16.59 GMT
>>
>> The Green party's former science and technology spokesman is promoting
>>anti-radiation pills to people in Japan affected by the Fukushima
>>nuclear disaster, that leading scientists have condemned as "useless".
>>
>> Dr Christopher Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster,
>>is championing a series of expensive products and services which, he
>>claims, will protect people in Japan from the effects of radiation.
>>Among them are mineral supplements on sale for ?5,800 (�48) a bottle,
>>urine tests for radioactive contaminants for ?98,000 (�808) and food
>>tests for ?108,000 (�891).
>>
>> The tests are provided by Busby Laboratories and promoted through a
>>body called the Christopher Busby Foundation for the Children of
>>Fukushima (CBFCF). Both the pills and the tests are sold through a
>>website in California called 4u-detox.com, run by a man called James
>>Ryan.
>>
>> Though a controversial figure, Busby has been championed by the
>>anti-nuclear movement and some environmentalists. He is still consulted
>>by the Green party on issues such as low-level radiation and depleted
>>uranium, but when contacted by the Guardian the party distanced itself
>>from Busy's activities. Penny Kemp, the Green party communications
>>director, said that the party did not condone Busby's promotion of the
>>products.
>>
>> In a video on YouTube, Busby says that the calcium and magnesium pills
>>will be supplied "at the cost of production". But the prices being
>>charged by 4u-detox.com are far greater than those of other mineral
>>supplements on sale in Japan. Chemists in Tokyo sell bottles of 200
>>pills containing similar combinations of ingredients for ?1,029 (�8.49).
>>James Ryan's website also charges a minimum shipping cost of ?2,300
>>(�19).
>>
>> The Japanese government already monitors human exposure to radiation
>>and tests food and water, banning contaminated products from sale. It
>>works to stricter radiation limits than the EU.
>>
>> Fukushima prefecture has launched a comprehensive radiation testing
>>programme, as well as distributing radiation monitors to 280,000
>>children at elementary and junior high schools. Hospitals at the edge of
>>the exclusion zone are offering full body radiation scans and the
>>government plans to check the thyroid glands of 360,000 children by
>>March 2014 � with follow up tests continuing for the rest of their lives.
>>
>> The CBFCF also solicits donations from the public, to be paid into an
>>account called Green Audit at a bank in Busby's home town of
>>Aberystwyth. Green Audit is an environmental consultancy and research
>>organisation founded by Busby.
>>
>> Launching the products and tests, Busby warns in his video of a public
>>health catastrophe in Japan caused by the Fukushima explosions, and
>>claims that radioactive caesium will destroy the heart muscles of
>>Japanese children.
>>
>> He also alleges that the Japanese government is trucking radioactive
>>material from the Fukushima site all over Japan, in order to "increase
>>the cancer rate in the whole of Japan so that there will be no control
>>group" of children unaffected by the disaster, in order to help the
>>Japanese government prevent potential lawsuits from people whose health
>>may have been affected by the radiation. The pills, he claims, will stop
>>radioactive contaminants attaching themselves to the DNA of Japanese
>>children.
>>
>> But Gerry Thomas, professor of molecular pathology at the department of
>>surgery and cancer at Imperial College, London, describes his statements
>>about heart disease caused by caesium as "ludicrous". She says that
>>radioactive elements do not bind to DNA. "This shows how little he
>>understands about basic radiobiology." Of the products and services
>>being offered, she says, "none of these are useful at all. Dr Busby
>>should be ashamed of himself."
>>
>> Professor Ohtsura Niwa, a member of the International Commission on
>>Radiological Protection, said that Busby had offered no evidence for his
>>claims of deliberate contamination. "It is not possible for the
>>government and Tepco [the company that runs the Fukushima nuclear plant]
>>to cheat people, now that so many citizens equipped with dosimeters are
>>measuring radiation levels all over Japan," he said.
>>
>> Niwa described Busby's faith in magnesium and calcium supplements for
>>guarding against radionuclides such as strontium, uranium and plutonium
>>as "baseless".
>>
>> A Japanese government spokesman also rebutted the accusation of
>>deliberately contaminating other parts of Japan. Noriyuki Shikata,
>>deputy cabinet secretary for public affairs in the prime minister's
>>office, said that so far only tsunami debris from Miyako in Iwate
>>prefecture has been transported to Tokyo for incineration, adding that
>>the disposal of waste generated by the disaster applies only to Iwate
>>and Miyagi prefectures, not Fukushima.
>>
>> "At this point, there are no plans to transport radioactive waste
>>outside Fukushima prefecture," Shikata said. "Efforts are now being
>>co-ordinated to construct intermediate storage facilities for
>>radioactive waste inside Fukushima prefecture."
>>
>> Yasuhito Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Radioisotope
>>Association, described the idea that large swaths of the country were
>>being deliberately contaminated as "ridiculous". "No decision has been
>>made on the final disposal of radioactive waste," he said. "Local
>>governments in Fukushima haven't even approved a government proposal to
>>store it locally on a temporary basis."
>>
>> Busby told the Guardian that the money from the sales of pills and
>>tests goes to the CBFCF, which was established by James Ryan. When asked
>>what his involvement with the foundation is, Busby said: "It's got
>>nothing to do with me. He phoned me up and asked if he could use my name
>>and I said he could." But he added: "I'm conducting the tests. I
>>promised him I would measure the samples he sent to me." Asked if Busby
>>Laboratories was his operation, he said, "I'm Busby Laboratories."
>>
>> Ryan did not respond to a question from the Guardian on why the
>>products and services provided by 4u-detox.com are so expensive. Nor did
>>he provide any evidence for the efficacy of the products when asked.
>>
>> He did say: "All money from 4u Detox goes to children of Fukushima and
>>children throughout Japan. We have donated a great amount to children of
>>Japan".
>>
>> Products and services offered by Busby Laboratories and sold through
>>4u-detox.com
>>
>>
>> Testing urine for uranium and strontium: ?98,000 (�808)
>> Testing food for caesium and iodine: ?29,800 (�246)
>> Testing food for plutonium, uranium and strontium: ?108,000 (�891)
>> Testing water for caesium and strontium: ?59,800 (�493)
>> Russian-made radiation monitors: ?28,000 yen + ?3,200 yen for shipping
>>(�257 in total). The same model is available on eBay for �170, including
>>shipping costs.
>>
>> =========================================
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>>
>> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
>>the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
>>http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>>
>> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
>>visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>>
>> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
>>the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
>>http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>>
>> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
>>visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu
>>
>_______________________________________________
>You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
>Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood
>the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
>http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
>
>For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
>visit: http://health.phys.iit.edu