Uranium in Hair - Redux

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

Radsafers:


In the October 2001 issue of the Health Physics Journal, there is an article discussing the value of assaying hair and nails for uranium.  While I expect the mechanics of the analyses themselves have validity, I question what the results may mean.  


In the article, "Uranium Bioassay - Beyond Urinalysis," by Zeev Karpas, there is a table which records the content of uranium in hair in "normal" subjects as about 60 ng per gram.  The problem I have with this article, and other statistics on this assay technique that I have reviewed, is that they do not distinguish where the persons that submitted the sample live, and in this case, do not even give the number of samples analyzed.  I suspect there will be a wide variation of "normal," depending on geographic location.


I would appreciate the professional community's current thoughts on this analysis, and if anyone happens to have a copy of a paper delivered in 1999, and referenced in the paper by Mr. Karpas, I'd appreciate a faxed copy (714-257-2036).  The paper is:


"Determination of uranium in human nails, hair and urine samples by FIAS-ICPMS," Gonen, et al, 45th Conference Bioassay, Analytical and Environmental Radiochemistry, Gaithersburg, MS, 1999.  Actually, I'm not even sure there was an actual written paper developed, or whether this was simply a presentation at the conference.  I am particularly interested in whether or not geographic origin of the samples was considered in the establishment of "normal."


Barbara L. Hamrick

blhamrick@aol.com