[ RadSafe ] The Demon Metal or The Gospel According to Chris Busby

Sat Jan 4 17:32:04 CST 2014

The Editor, Oliver Tickell, of The Ecologist, would appreciate
scientific critique of the Busby article.  He may be reached at
editor at theecologist.org .  Thank you.

Roger Helbig

On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 3:06 PM, Richard L. Hess <lists at richardhess.com> wrote:
> Hi, Jerry,
>
> Thank you very much. This is precisely what I was looking for.
>
> I think we all agree that DU is not dangerous per se as a radiological
> hazard.
>
> The chemical toxicity of DU in certain forms seems to be acknowledged (like
> arsenic, though arsenic appears to be worse, but it depends on the
> compounding).
>
> There is still a question in my mind about Busby's multiplicative conjecture
> (as a contribution to illness) and it all seems to depend on particle size
> and the amount of energy from random gamma radiation being converted
> effectively to beta radiation in close proximity to ingested DU particles
> and then transferred to adjacent cells thereby damaging them. The papers
> cited are convincing that it is a non-issue, but Busby's litany of flaws in
> those papers are substantial.
>
> Thanks again. I'll try not to clutter the list here with any more posts on
> the topic. I appreciate the help as always.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> On 2014-01-04 5:15 PM, Falo, Gerald A CIV USARMY MEDCOM PHC (US) wrote:
>>
>> All,
>>
>> Here's what, I believe, Mr. Hess is looking for:
>>
>> (1)
>> http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/05/28/rpd.ncs013.abstract.
>> The concluding line of the abstract is "The proposal is shown generally to
>> be based on sound physics, but overall the impact on human health is
>> expected to be negligible."
>>
>> (2)
>> http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/09/23/rsif.2009.0300.full.
>> Here the authors conclude "We found that although the dose enhancement is
>> significant, of the order of 1-10, it is considerably smaller than that
>> suggested previously."
>>
>> (3) Dr. Busby has more here:
>> http://environmentalarmageddon.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/dr-chris-busby.pdf
>> including a response to (2) above.
>>
>> There might be other information floating around out there (I have a vague
>> recollection of a US national laboratory report on the topic.), but I
>> haven't been keeping up.
>>
>> I hope this helps.
>>
>> Happy New Year,
>> Jerry
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> The statements and opinions expressed herein are my responsibility; no one
>> else (certainly not my employer) is responsible, but I still reserve the
>> right to make mistakes.
>>
>> Gerald A. Falo, Ph.D., CHP
>> Army Institute of Public Health - Health Physics Program
>> gerald.a.falo.civ at mail.mil
>> 410-436-4852
>> DSN: 584-4852
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Richard L. Hess
>> Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2014 2:19 PM
>> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] The Demon Metal or The Gospel According to Chris
>> Busby
>>
>> Hi, Dan,
>>
>> Thanks for the informative link. I sometimes worry about Wikipedia
>> articles where I don't know enough to really judge.
>>
>> By Busby's conjecture, the uranium would have about 7.77 times the
>> "damaging power" through the concentration of gamma rays in the DNA due to
>> the ratio of atomic numbers squared: 92 vs 33.
>>
>> Of course, we need something to go with uranium like "Arsenic and Old
>> Lace" <smile>.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>
>> On 2014-01-04 2:57 AM, Dan McCarn wrote:
>>>
>>> As I recall, Arsenic and Uranium are about equal in crustal abundance.
>>> Too bad he doesn't discuss the carcinogenic, mutagenic, etc.
>>> properties of arsenic.
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_toxicity
>>>
>>>
>>> Dan ii
>>>
>>> Dan W McCarn, Geologist
>>> 108 Sherwood Blvd
>>> Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
>
>
> --
> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard at richardhess.com
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada           http://www.richardhess.com/
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>
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