[ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report

[KARAM, PHILIP]

I have to say that I was very dubious before reading the report. But the authors seem to have been very thorough and methodical, they tried to account for a number of alternative hypotheses, and their conclusions were that their work "moderately supports" the possibility of Po-210 poisoning. So, in Mythbusters terminology, I'd have to categorize this as "plausible."

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Clayton J Bradt
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 1:42 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Arafat Po poisoning report



I've skimmed through the report. The results are not conclusive but they
are suggestive. Basically, the Po210 activities in samples taken from
Arafat's clothing and his remains, though very low, are generally  higher
than reference samples.  Some of the samples also show a higher activity of
Po210 than would be supported by the measured Pb210 activity - i.e. more
Po210 than would be expected if it were all from natural sources.  The
study needs a much closer read, though.

Clayton Bradt
Principal Radiophysicist
NYS Dept. of eEalth
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