Ex UCI lab tech pleads "not guilty" to radioactive assau

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

The last paragraph says:

>Jensen said the potential exposure is limitless because Zuo went 
home to her 2-year-old child and husband after sitting on the chair. 
He said Zuo got a whole year's worth of exposure in just six hours.<

Questions ... what was the exposure? A year's worth of what? DDE, SDE 
.. what? QAny comments from our UCI HPs?
---------------------

Ex UCI lab tech pleads "not guilty" to radioactive assault charges 

A former university lab worker who allegedly smeared radioactive 
material on a co-worker's chair pleaded innocent Thursday to felony 
charges.  

Andrew Blakis is believed to be the first person in California 
accused of using radioactive material as an assaultive or contaminant 
material, although about six cases have been prosecuted on the 
federal level in other states, according to Deputy District Attorney 
Lance Jensen.  

Blakis, who posted $20,000 bail after his arrest in August, would 
face up to five years in prison if convicted of assault with a deadly 
weapon and unlawful disposal of radioactive material.  

The 32-year-old Los Angeles man was ordered to return to court on 
Oct. 28 for a pretrial hearing and Nov. 3 for a preliminary hearing.  


Blakis resigned after allegedly smearing P32 isotope, a colorless 
waxy material used in DNA testing, on the chair of co-worker Jingtong 
Zuo at the Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility at UC Irvine.  

The post-doctoral researcher sat on the chair for a total of six 
hours before the contamination was found in a routine Geiger counter 
sweep of the room, Jensen said.  

``She has tested negative at this point as far as any exposure to the 
radiation. However, we can't rule out inhalation or ingestion of the 
substance,'' Jensen said.  

According to Jensen, Blakis allegedly took retaliatory action because 
he believed that he had been exposed to the compound. But Jensen said 
there is no evidence that Zuo contaminated Blakis' workspace.  

While he was working, Blakis said he felt tingling in his lips, 
stopped working and swept the area with the Geiger counter. He found 
that some material had escaped the workstation and was on the hood 
enclosure and floor.  

Jensen said the potential exposure is limitless because Zuo went home 
to her 2-year-old child and husband after sitting on the chair. He 
said Zuo got a whole year's worth of exposure in just six hours.  


Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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