Re: Uranium Hair Analysis

["Paul R. Steinmeyer" <prstein@gyral.com>]

Barbara et al;

Thanks for the additional explanation.  

I found the additional data on the hair analysis, and for the sake of
completeness, it is below:

Alpha spec analysis of hair:

Isotope		pCi/g		calculated PPM
U-234		7.19 ±0.45	0.001 ±0.000
U-238		1.80 ±0.13	5.354 ±0.387
U-235		0.10 ±0.01	0.046 ±0.009

The "Elemental Hair Analysis" listed Uranium as 2.936 PPM, and stated
the "reference range" as 0-0.06 PPM which I believe is about 0-0.02
pCi/g.  

Some of the comments accompanying the report are as follows:

"Most exposure comes from natural uranium in ground and drinking water."

"Radioactivity danger from trace quantities of natural uranium is slight
because of its very long half life (billions of years)."

"The major toxicological concern of U238 excess is biochemical rather
than radiochemical."

"The primary symptom of low level chronic uranium excess is chronic
fatigue." [My comment: Huh?]

"Possible conditions from more severe uranium contaminations include
damage to kidney glomeruli with disordered renal transport (proteinuria,
albuminuria, andhyperaminoaciduria) and hematopoiesis in bone marrow."

"Hair is sensitive to external contamination with U, possibly coming
from shampoos or wash water."  [My comment:  The uranium analysis
portion of the report is also flagged as having a high likelihood of
external contamination.]

The only other thing I can add is that <humor> here in New England we
have little problem with the statement that "Californians are outside
the norm" in almost any context... </humor>

Regards,

Paul

BLHamrick@aol.com wrote:
<snip>
> I agree that the analysis in theory is not necessarily meaningless, but the
> data I reviewed was meaningless.  It is my recollection that virtually all
> the samples taken from Californians and somewhere on the east coast were
> "high," and that the bulk of samples from the rest of the country were
> effectively "zero," thus for all the Californians, they were reporting that
> they were "outside the norm."
> 
> Barbara

-- 
Paul R. Steinmeyer
Health Physicist
Radiation Safety Associates, Inc.
RSA Laboratories, Inc.
voice: 860/228-0487
fax: 860 228-4402
mailto:prstein@radpro.com
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