reply to Cedervall (was Re: uranium munitions burning in air....)

[James Salsman <james@bovik.org>]

Bjorn Cedervall wrote:



 >... Malformations is a complex topic where many factors may contribute.



What factors other than uranium pyrolite accumulation in testicles can

explain the 50% increase in birth defects after nine years?



Studies by Lowell E. Sever, an epidemiologist with Battelle's Seattle

Research Center, and others reported an association between neural tube

defects and the radiation dose fathers received before their children

were conceived. This effect was observed in children whose fathers

received low doses (10 rem or less) of external whole-body radiation

while working at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State.

In 1990, Martin J. Gardner (Environmental Epidemiology Unit at the

University of Southampton, England) and colleagues published the results

of a study of leukemia and lymphoma among young people born and living

near the Sellafield nuclear power plant in West Cumbria, United Kingdom.

The researchers concluded that leukemia in children was linked to their

fathers' exposure to external whole-body radiation before conception of

the child.  For children whose fathers worked at the nuclear facility,

the rate of childhood leukemia was twice as high as normal. There was

also an eight-fold increase of leukemia in children whose fathers

received a life-time dose greater than 10 rem or a dose greater than 1

rem within the six months before the children's conception.  A study by

P.A. McKinney (Information and Statistics Division, Scottish Common

Services, Edinburgh, Scotland) indicated a 2.5-fold increase in leukemia

in children whose fathers had radiation doses similar to those in the

Gardner study.



There is no question that inhaled uranium accumulates and causes

genetic damage in the testicles:

   http://www.bovik.org/reproduction-review-2001.pdf



Again, can you suggest any specific factors which you believe may

have contributed to the congenital malformations observed in the

exposed U.S., U.K., and civilian populations?



Sincerely,

James Salsman





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