Don't Look - Don't Find

SOURCE: Sharon Rudolph (shannonkona@gmail.com)
SUBHEAD: Comments on "Hawaii DU Plan Useless" from Martin Callamore in Tacoma, Washington.

By Martin Collamore on 2 May 2010 in Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2010/05/dont-look-dont-find.html)

 
Image above: DU munition found at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. From (http://www.islandbreath.org/2006Year/03-environment/0603-20SuperFerryMilitary.html)

[IB Publisher's note: In response to the statement "Five-micron size [particles] would fall out within a mile," he said. "Smaller sizes may be carried by the wind." He recommended .45-micron filters."]  

I hope the NRC goes to the mat on this. The Army's testing plan certainly gives "military intelligence" a newer meaning. As a scientist, not to have a background baseline for comparison is literally shooting in the dark. The reference to an inadequate sampling frequency and sample locations are certainly troublesome and would skew any results, a concept that sounds like the Army version of three-card-monte.

And the 0.45 micron filter is the standard for microbial testing. A 5 micron filter would be like trying to catch BBs with a tennis racket. ' The army needs an independent consulting group to do anything statistically relevant for this question to be put to bed.

As for actual heath effects, that would be another conundrum as the data would be harder to determine and labor intensive to gather for rational conclusions. Wind patterns, medical records, dates, etc., would require a massive compilation to be definitive.

My comments were primarily directed at the sampling regime, which didn't sound robust or adequate. I've spent the better part of the last 40 years involved in some manner of environmental sampling, If the sampling wasn't done correctly, the data is compromised and any results obtained suspect.  

• Martin Collamore, the last 16 years or so before retirement, was the City of Tacoma Washington, Public Works Department, Environmental Services and Engineering Division, Laboratory Supervisor.
See also:
Island Breath: Superferry, Stryker, Depleted Uranium 1/6/06 .

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