Re[2]: uranium in hair

[Vincent.King@DOEGJPO.COM (Vincent King)]

     Radsafers,
     
     Can somebody explain why John/Jane Q. Public is hearing about how much 
     uranium is in their hair in the first place?  Is this some standard 
     medical procedure?  Or maybe a new evaluation provided by hair 
     stylists?
     
     More seriously, my response was limited to the specifics of the 
     original posting stating that nuclear power plants were the feared 
     "source" of exposure. 
     
     In response to that posting, I also wanted to bring up a part of the 
     answer that had been so far overlooked in the discussion.  Far too 
     often we get tangled in the technical parts of an answer while missing 
     the big picture - along with opportunities to educate.
     
     So while we are having discussions that are useful to US on the 
     variablility in uranium content of hair (which I am especially 
     interested in since I work and live on the Colorado Plateau), or how we 
     don't have a good "average" value (true), or that we need consistency 
     from analytical laboratories (VERY true), let's not forget that this 
     guy is waiting for an answer to whether he has radioactive hair because 
     of the local nuke plant.
     
     If he's interested enough to ask, he may end up learning something 
     useful about both natural radioactivity AND nuclear power.  And if we 
     don't miss opportunities, maybe the public won't be quite as 
     "uninformed" one day.
     
     Good luck, Paul.
     
     
     Vincent King
     vincent.king@doegjpo.com
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: uranium in hair
Author:  BLHamrick <BLHamrick@aol.com> at Internet 
Date:    4/13/98 13:00
     
     
In a message dated 98-04-13 13:40:04 EDT, Vincent.King@DOEGJPO.COM writes:
     
<< Radsafers,
     
      Rather than trying to come up with the uranium content of hair, 
      wouldn't it be more to the point to note that uranium is not an 
      effluent from nuclear power plant operations? (...unless some VERY 
      serious degradation causes the fuel to be on the outside of the 
      core...)       >>
     
Actually, this won't completely address the problem.  Not all calls are from 
people who live near or are concerned about exposure from a nuclear plant.  I 
think that as Mr. Kathren suggests there needs to be controls on the labs 
reporting these results, in terms of how they are acquiring and analyzing their 
data.
     
Barbara L. Hamrick
Los Angeles County Radiation Management 
BLHamrick@aol.com