RE: History of X-Rays

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafer's,

Normally I would have called this somewhat off-topic,
if there hadn't been claims to relate HIV with
radiation exposure, that is.

A recent news release indicated that in a current
issue of Nature (this week I believe) researchers
are reporting with some confidence that the 3 or so
well analyzed genetic strains of HIV I currently
seen in the human population are all directly
related to the HIV strain seen in certain chimpanzee
populations in equatorial Africa. It is their
postulation that peoples in the area who eat
chimpanzee's are exposed to the blood of the apes
during butchering. For unknown reasons, the
chimpanzees appear to have no apparent ill effects
from the HIV which could indicate that it has been
an endemic virus with them for thousands of years.

So, our friends the geneticists have very strong
biomolecular evidence that HIV was around long
before man used radiological technology. Further,
according to this thesis, the first large scale
human exposures took place in equatorial Africa,
possibly in this century, an area with no
significant radiological activity for most of the
century. Perhaps another radsafer can provide the
specific citation for this paper (it has received
considerable media attention in the San Francisco
Bay Area).

But of course, Africa is the home of the "natural
reactors"!

S.,

MikeG.

At 01:37 AM 1/30/99 -0600, you wrote:
>>Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 13:10:20 -0600 (CST)
>---
>>I got to see Dr. Bertell in person in about 1987 where she obliquely
>>advanced the concept that AIDS was caused by exposure to radiation.  
>>She denied making such a claim when she was asked a direct question 
>>after her lecture.
>---
>>Don Kosloff
>
>For an unknown reason Don's comment from Jan. 20) dropped in last night 
>(today is Jan. 30) as well as about 5-6 other emails from that week. 
>...


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