Dear Hans: 

The 14.4 ppm uranium in the dust sample from the 
hangar is an order of magnitude (approximate factor of 10) 
higher than the 1 ppm concentration of natural uranium 
expected in ordinary soil. Therefore, if most of this uranium 
is depleted uranium, there would be trillions -- not millions -- 
of microscopic depleted uranium particles per kilogram of dust. 

If you have the funds, it would be advisable to send a portion 
of the dust sample to the Canadian laboratory for uranium isotopic 
analysis. The analysis should confirm unambiguously if the dust 
contains any DU. 

My paper at the WISE site is the same paper that is published in 
Metal of Dishonor, except for a few editorial changes in the title 
and sub-headings. 

Regards, 

Len Dietz

--------------------e-mail letter August 15, 1998------------------ 

To: Hans de Jonge, 

Dear Hans: 

Congratulations, you have hit the jackpot! The uranium analysis results 
you sent to me by e-mail yesterday are dynamite. 

I did a simple analysis of the U-235/U-238 isotope ratio equals 0.0024. 
The analysis is consistent with a mixture of approximately 1-mg/kg of 
natural uranium mixed with 12.2-mg/kg of depleted uranium (DU). In 
other words, the uranium in your dust sample is more than 92 percent DU! 
Furthermore, the 14.4 mg/kg measured by Biospectron, Sweden is in 
excellent agreement as far as total uranium concentration goes, but 
unfortunately does not provide the crucial isotopic abundances. The 
Canadian analysis should give added confirmation for the presence of DU. 

Rest assured, I will treat your data in strictest confidence until after you 
release it. I am sure that the people at the Military Toxics Project will be 
interested in the results. If you don't have their e-mail address or the 
person in charge, I can give you this information. 

Let me show you how I analyzed your data. The technique may help you 
to analyze other data you may receive in the future. 

Natural uranium is ubiquitous in nature. I may have mentioned to you 
earlier that the concentration of natural uranium in soils typically is 1-ppm 
or 1-microgram/gram of soil. Ordinary dust should not be much different 
from soil. When we are measuring the concentration of DU in an environmental 
sample, we invariably will have a two-component chemical mixture. To analyze 
and separate the two components we proceed as follows: 

Let T= 13.2 mg/kg be the total amount of uranium measured per kilogram of dust. 
U-235/U-238 = 0.0024 is the measured isotope ratio of uranium in the mixture. 
(I have assumed this to be an atom ratio.) 
du235 = 0.0020 is the fractional abundance of U-235 in DU. 
du238 = 0.9979 is the fractional abundance of U-238 in DU. 
nat235 = 0.720 is the fractional abundance of U-235 in natural uranium. 
nat238 = 0.9927 is the fractional abundance of U-238 in natural uranium. 
x = the unknown amount of DU in the sample, measured here as a concentration, 
mg/kg. The four isotopic values are rounded off from those given in Table I of 
my paper in the book, Metal of Dishonor, page 137. 

We now form a ratio expression for U-235/U-238 in the observed dust sample and 
set it equal to 0.0024. For a mixture of DU and natural uranium we have 
[du235x + nat235(T-x)]/[du238x + nat238(T-x)] = 0.0024 

Substituting the known values for the individual constants and solving the equation 
for x gives x = 12.2 mg/kg of DU in the dust sample. The amount of natural uranium 
in the dust sample is T - x = 13.2 - 12.2 = 1.0 mg/kg. 

From Table I of my paper we see that the U-238/U-235 ratio for DU is 
99.7947/0.2015 = 495.3. 
This value was measured at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory by high precision 
and accuracy mass spectrometry when I worked there. Your observed value of 417 
indicates that background natural uranium is mixed with the DU. 

You now have some very powerful and convincing data. A point that you and your 
colleagues should make forcefully with the powers that be is that there is a vast 
difference in health risks between natural uranium in soil or dust as compared 
with the DU in your dust samples. 

Except for uranium mines, natural uranium always occurs in highly dilute 
concentration, approximately 1-ppm in soils. It is locked up in non-metallic 
form in minerals and is not readily available for chemical action in the body 
or in the environment. On the other hand, DU always appears in highly 
concentrated chemical form, usually as uranium oxides or metal, and is 
available for immediate chemical action in the body or in the environment. 
In your samples it appears as oxidized uranium aerosol particles that can 
easily become resuspended in air and inhaled. Potentially this is very dangerous. 

I suggest that you ask the laboratories for their measurement errors, as 
you can use these to estimate the accuracy of the measurements. If you 
can obtain them, I can help you to apply them to the measurements. 

I greatly appreciate your keeping me informed and will continue to 
support you and your colleagues wherever I can. 

Best regards, Len Dietz
 

---------------------e-mail letter August 16, 1998------------------ 
 

To: Hans de Jonge, 

Dear Hans: 

As follow-up to the e-mail letter I sent you yesterday, let me make 
a few more comments and give you some additional, new information 
about radioactivity. 

You now know that most of the uranium in your hangar dust sample is DU. 
Because it is unlikely that the DU is uniformly distributed throughout the 
sample, very likely different concentrations (mg DU/kg dust) will be measured 
for different aliquots of your dust collection. 

I believe you told me earlier that approximately 100 people who have been 
working in the hangar have become ill. If DU has contributed to their 
illnesses, it could be in complicated ways. Both the chemical toxicity and 
the radiological toxicity of uranium might be contributing factors. 

I am enclosing a USA Today newspaper article that reports new genetic 
research showing a connection between radiation and illnesses like those 
American Gulf War veterans are experiencing. The article was sent to me 
by Dr. Ross Wilcock, a retired Canadian physician. You may want to visit 
his web site, as he is interested in personnel exposure to radioactivity. 
You may also want to obtain a copy of Harold Urnovitz's paper. Perhaps 
a library friend of yours could obtain his personal address or his 
company's address. He must be listed in scientific or medical directories. 

I hope this additional information is useful to you and your colleagues. 

Best regards, Len Dietz

------------------------------------- 
 

Received from Dr. Ross Wilcock by Len Dietz on May 27, 1998 

This is by no means new. Rosalie Bertell described this kind of 
thing to me back in 1977. It was one of the reasons why she 
received the Right Livelihood Award. Maybe there is a new gadget 
on the market. 

Ross Wilcock, 
rwilcock@web.net 
http://www.pgs.ca/ 
 

-----Original Message----- 

From: owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org 
[mailto:owner-abolition-caucus@igc.org] 

Subject: Fwd: New radiological damage process being found----the 
process of immune dysfunction 

Hello NukeNet, 

The topic of radiological or toxic DNA damages are closely related. 
Recent improvements in DNA damage sensing measurements and 
recent very widespread problems in the Gulf War with DU (Depleted 
Uranium) and other genotoxic agents are getting to the long undisclosed 
mechanisms behind low level radiations and other genotoxic chemical 
agents producing immune dysfunction and latent related diseases. 
Here is one of the problems with a cell apoptosis effect loading the 
immune response. 

There are these type problems long before cancers form due to 
radiation exposures and the DOE has only allowed cancer links 
to be studied to date. 
Research like this is showing the mechanism to effect some long 
needed changes in the rad protection areas. 

Sincerely, 

Jim Phelps, Env. News, http://members.aol.com/doewatch 

--------------------------- 
 

USA Today News 
By John Hanchette 
Gannett news Service, Atlanta 
 

Genetic researchers say they have made progress in human 
cell research that may help explain why more than 100,000 Gulf 
War veterans have complained of chronic illnesses since 1991. 

California scientist Howard Urnovitz will contend today at the 
annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology that 
chromosome disruptions-linked with exposures to environmental 
toxins-help explain the illnesses. 

Urnovitz told Gannett News Service that the chromosome damage 
may result from the body's response to environmental toxins and 
that it may accumulate-meaning the onset of disease can come 
years after the original exposure. "If there are 100,000 sick now, 
the new research means the other 600,000 who served may just be 
in a queue to start developing illnesses later on," Urnovitz said. 

About one-seventh of American troops in the Gulf War-more than 
100,000 men and women-have complained they suffer from illness 
with multiple symptoms. Private sector and government scientists 
have been trying to figure out their problems. 

Urnovitz is the science director for two organizations, the nonprofit 
Chronic Illness Research Foundation and the publicly traded Calypte 
Biomedical, both of Berkeley, Calif. He and other molecular biologists 
use the term "genotoxic exposure" to describe human contact with 
cell-damaging toxins like those possibly encountered in the gulf. 
Included: pesticides, oil field smoke and radioactive depleted uranium. 
Scientists already have discovered that human genes- when confronted 
with assault by genotoxins, microbes or other destructive agents- will 
rearrange themselves to make a new gene, different from a person's 
original genetic map. In a process called "apoptosis," the body actually 
programs the death of damaged cells for the greater good of the body. 

Urnovitz believes the nucleic acids that normally do this somehow reinsert 
a new genetic blueprint into the nucleus. So, instead of killing itself or detoxifying, 
the damaged cell sends messages to other cells, which may respond with 
harmful proteins or other substances. "This reaction takes years," Urnovitz said. 
"They influence other normal cell blueprints." 

His hypothesis: 
"These damaged nucleic acids accumulate, and as they accumulate, they 
increase your risk for chronic illnesses. They accumulate until they hit a 
threshold, and then the disease kicks in." 

Urnovitz also thinks his research may provide insight into some mysterious 
illnesses of the past. He notes a similar historic juxtaposition of chemical 
weaponry and a deadly epidemic 80 years ago, during World War I. Arthur 
Krieg, a University of Iowa immunologist who will also present a paper 
at the microbiology society meeting said Urnovitz's theory "is a potentially 
important observation that could go beyond Gulf War illnesses and help us 
understand more about the causes of many other diseases." 

James Tuite III, a director of the Chronic Illness Research Foundation 
and the Senate investigator who brought Gulf War illnesses to widespread 
attention four years ago, said the new research is important because claims 
that the symptoms mostly are stress-related. "This shows," he said, "there 
is a physiological pathology underlying their illnesses." 

-------------------END of August 16th e-mail letter------------------------ 
 

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