[ RadSafe ] is uranium genotoxic? (was Re: CB interviewonenrichedU)

[Doug Aitken]

Stephen:
I believe it is a fairly accepted fact that when a population is under
stress (war, famine, etc.), one of the results is a change in the sex ration
to favor female over male offspring.
This makes sense from the aspect of survival of the species, as obviously
one male can fertilize more than one female......

Nothin' To do with genotoxins, DU or otherwise. More to do with stress and
other environmental factors (e.g. malnutrition)

Regards
Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Steven Dapra
Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2011 1:52 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] is uranium genotoxic? (was Re: CB
interviewonenrichedU)

Oct. 29

At 03:15 AM 10/29/2011, you wrote:
>You should read a book called "The battle of Fallujah" cited in the 
>paper C


         This book is "Operation Phantom Fury. The assault and capture of
Fallujah, Iraq," by Dick Camp (New York: Zenith Press; 2009).  Camp is a
Marine Corps full colonel.  Busby's Fallujah hair sample paper (fn. 54) has
the correct citation.  I have not read Dick's book.

         Looking on Wikipedia, I found an entry about the Italian-made movie
"Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre."  This movie claims, with some merit, that
the U.S. used white phosphorus in its invasion and destruction of Fallujah.
The Wikipedia entry about the movie says nothing about depleted uranium,
however DU may have been beyond the scope of the movie.

         The Wikipedia entry "Fallujah during the Iraq War" also says
nothing about DU.  Busby's interest in this may be self-generated.  The last
section of the "during" entry ("Health
Effects") reads:

"In July 2010, BBC reported a study by Dr. Chris Busby, detailing increases
in infant mortality, such as a 12 fold increase in childhood cancer reported
in Fallujah since the attack. [48]  It alleges that in 2004, Iraq had the
world's highest rate of leukaemia, in which significant increased are also
reported. The report also noted that the sex ratio had declined from normal
to 86 boys to 100 girls, together with a spread of diseases indicative of
genetic damage similar to but far greater than Hiroshima. The study
concludes however that the evidence is anecdotal and that the identity of
the agents causing the increases in illness were not determined. 
[49]  There is also evidence that the report suffers from bias, and that its
methods fail to meet the standards of a legitimate, peer-reviewed,
scientific study. [50]"  (I have omitted the hyperlinks from the Wikipedia
article.)

         Footnote 48 is a link to a BBC story titled "Fallujah childrens'
'genetic damage' ".  I can't download the BBC story because my computer
doesn't have some necessary software.  The portion I can obtain says that
according to a "new survey," cancer, leukemia, and infant mortality are all
increasing in Fallujah; and that "doctors have been reporting a large number
of birth defects since the 2004 offensive."  Remember, the study is by
Busby.  The BBC link is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10721562

         Footnote 49 is to an intermediate web site which has a link to
Busby's co-authored paper "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in
Fallujah, Iraq" (Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7, 2828-2837).
In fairness to Busby and his co-authors, the Conclusions of the paper say,
"Finally, the results reported here do not throw any light upon the identity
of the agent(s) causing the increased levels of illness and although we have
drawn attention to the use of depleted uranium as one potential relevant
exposure, there may be other possibilities and we see the current study as
investigating the anecdotal evidence of increases in cancer and infant
mortality in Fallujah."

         Footnote 50 is to Junk Science's "Chris Busby Exposed" article.

http://junksciencewatch.wordpress.com/

         So . . . although pathetic and exasperating, this whole thing now
becomes somewhat comical.  Busby recommends a book.  He has the title wrong
(here).  He claims or broadly insinuates that DU was used in Fallujah.  His
co-authored paper acknowledges that there are "other possibilities" than DU
for the medical problems he reports in Fallujah.

         It seems to me that Dr. Chris Busby is increasingly becoming
entangled in a web of his own lies, deceit, and incompetence.

Steven Dapra


At 03:15 AM 10/29/2011, you wrote:
>You should read a book called "The battle of Fallujah" cited in the 
>paper C
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu on behalf of Brennan, Mike  
>(DOH)
>Sent: Fri 28/10/2011 16:53
>To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
>Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] is uranium genotoxic? (was Re: CB
>interviewonenrichedU)
>
>What would be the point in using something like that at Fallujah?  To 
>the best of my knowledge, the fighting was mostly in residential areas, 
>of houses made of ordinary building materials (mostly concrete block, 
>from what I could see.  There would be no reason to use some 
>super-secret advanced bunker-busting weapon.  Even conventional armor 
>piercing projectiles would be of less value in that kind of 
>environment, as they would pass right through the target building, 
>leaving relatively neat holes front and back, with matching holes in 
>non-targets down range.  Much more desirable from the military's point 
>of view would be weapons that would enter the target and blow up, 
>killing the people in the target without doing damage to nearby 
>structures, where your people might be.  Given that the military has 
>many such weapons, and that they are undoubtedly cheaper that the 
>hypothetical super-secret weapons, it seems unlikely the military would 
>go with the more expensive, less effective option, just to give activists
something to catch them at.

[edit]

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