Re: Uranium hair analysis?

[rkathren@tricity.wsu.edu (Ron L. Kathren)]

Barbara, as always, makes som e very good points and poses some important
questions.  The US Transuranium and Uranium Registries have also received
inquiries from individuals who have undergone hair analysis by this and
other labs and have had high values reported.  Without getting into the
problems related to such an analysis (eg contamination by endogenous U) it
would seem that there is a bigger question here, and one related to public
health.  So far as I know, there is no licensure or qualification required
for such laboratories, or even an ANSI standard governing their analytical
work.  Should this be something we as HP's should pursue?

Ron Kathren

  >Dear radsafers:
>
>I am looking at a laboratory report which purports to identify toxic elements
>in individuals by analyzing the individuals' hair.  One of the items
>identified is uranium.  I have seen these reports on a couple of other
>occasions, and I am very concerned about the reliability and/or validity of
>this analysis.  The paperwork I have does not describe the analytical method
>used.  It reports only a parts per million number, and indicates (at least on
>this report) that the uranium in this individual is well over two standard
>deviations above the mean.  I am skeptical of the contents of this report,
>but would like to hear others opinions before I discuss this with the lab.
>
>Barbara L. Hamrick,
>Los Angeles County Radiation Management
>BLHamrick@aol.com
>
>