[ RadSafe ] pyrophoric uranium considered nonessential

[James Salsman]

John Johnson wrote:

> We would all profit from reading the following references on uranium.
> 
> Radiation Risks and Uranium Toxicity; A Brodsky, RSA Publications, 1996
> 
> A Review of the Scientific Literature as it Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses;
> Harley et al; RAND, 1999
> 
> Depleted Uranium Sources, Exposure and Heath Effects, World Health
> Organization, 2001

I am not surprised that Dr. Johnson omits his own publication:

    Parkhurst, M.A., J.R. Johnson, J. Mishima, and J.L. Pierce,
    "Evaluation of DU Aerosol Data: Its Adequacy for Inhalation
    Modeling," PNL-10903, Richland, WA: Battelle Pacific Northwest
    Laboratory, December 1995

-- wherein, according to www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl2.htm
Dr. Johnson and his colleagues evaluated more than forty studies
of the characteristics of DU aerosols, focusing on chemical
composition, particle size, and solubility in lung fluid, and,
"deemed the data's overall quality adequate to conservatively
estimate dispersion and health effects."

Of course, as others have pointed out, UO3 gas vapor is not
technically an aerosol.

Dr. Johnson and his colleagues have apparently never even
considered uranium trioxide vapor, and they have certainly not
attempted to detect it in any studies of which I have been able
to learn.

However, uranium trioxide has been detected, in the June 1995
Army Environmental Policy Institute technical report entitled
"Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use
in the U.S. Army," and it was detected by Brit Salbu, et al.:
   http://www.bovik.org/du/Salbu-uranyl-detected.pdf

Were Dr. Johnson and his colleagues negligent when they failed
to consider uranium trioxide gas vapor?

Did Dr. Johnson and his colleagues know, or should they have
reasonably been expected to know, that uranium trioxide is a
combustion product of the aerial ignition of uranium metal?

Does the fact that hundreds of thousands have suffered uranium
inhalation poisoning because Dr. Johnson and his colleagues
deemed pyrophoric uranium munitions safe mean that they acted
with reckless disregard for health and safety?

I believe they were negligent, that they knew or should have
known, and that they were reckless.

Therefore I believe that Dr. Johnson and his colleagues are
criminals.  I also believe that the enormous magnitude of
their crime requires that they be arrested and taken to jail
for a long time, along with substantial fines.

Sincerely,
James Salsman