Dear Readers,
Roger Helibig has sent me several letters accusing Joe Mangano (and myself) of fraud and several other crimes and stupidities. The complete correspondence is shown below. I've also included my proposed response to his two most recent emails.
I was working, off and on, on a response to his email of April 27th, 2008, when his email of May 2nd came in. In it, Helbig takes the defeated pro-nuker's usual stance: He declares victory and runs. Ain't he cute?
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA
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"Roger Helbig" <rhelbig@california.com>
cc: "Roger Helbig" <rwhelbig@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Where's the fraud, Mr. Helbig?
May 3rd, 2008
Mr. Helbig,
There is no mention of Depleted Uranium in Joe Mangano's book and nor did I say there was in my previous emails (shown below). My comments about DU were just there to prove to ME that you had NOT read the book, and because, of course, I know from the Internet that DU is a "hot-button" topic for you.
You took the bait, hook, line and sinker, and provided plenty of proof that you haven't even opened Mangano's book and don't know what it's about, yet you're accusing him and me of fraud, without making a single specific charge.
Additionally, neither Mangano nor I said that Uranium gathers in teeth as you are claiming we said. You should have read my previous letter more carefully. Mangano's peer-reviewed studies refer to Strontium-90, which DOES accumulate in teeth and bones. The Baby Teeth Project's studies do NOT involve Depleted Uranium -- as you would know if you had read his book.
Furthermore, what *I* wrote about so-called "Depleted Uranium" was explicitly not limited to just U-238, but included ALL the other radioactive elements that might be part of DU weapons or armor. In particular, I discussed the dangers of fission products, which can be a significant portion of DU if it comes from reprocessed reactor cores.
However, your "responses" appear to only be considering U-238. Furthermore, you didn't cite anything you actually know that disproves my contention that DU is harmful. You just said the IAEA and UNEP have said that DU at a few specific sites they tested did not appear to be a "serious threat" in some unspecified reports that you like.
In general, IAEA's pro-nuclear bias is well-known, and it's equally well known that UNEP goes along with anything IAEA says. I believe that's their official, written policy, actually.
In your opinion, are there ANY alternatives that fall between a "serious threat" and "no threat whatsoever?"
As to putting DU in perspective, I usually refer to spent reactor fuel as being "10,000,000 times more dangerous than before it went into the reactor." I doubt that anyone can show that estimate is off by an order of magnitude in either direction (but if they can, I'll immediately adopt their more accurate value). Spent reactor cores have to be isolated from human beings for millions of years, and Yucca Mountain, if built (which would be a big mistake), will not reach its peak radioactivity for several hundred thousand years after it is filled and closed.
Before the fuel goes into the reactor, it is much less dangerous than USED (so-called "spent") fuel, but it is still more dangerous than pure U-238, probably by a factor of -- oh, I'd have to work up a lot of numbers for the specific activities for the estimated percentages of U-238, U-235, and, of course, the U-234 with its much shorter half-life, and for each of the other possible components including plutonium and fission products, but my guess is DU is between a tenth and a hundredth as dangerous as fresh (unused) nuclear reactor cores. More or less.
Which STILL doesn't make DU safe -- especially when aerosolized -- but granted, there ARE far more significant nuclear assaults against humanity. Nevertheless, civilians in Iraq -- and many of our own soldiers -- are probably suffering more from Depleted Uranium than from effluent from reactors (for the moment). A little goes a long way. Sure, it's not Polonium-210, like what was used in microgram quantities to kill Alexander Litvinenko -- and the heavy-metal toxicity is probably the worst part of DU (U-238, that is), but it isn't harmless, as you seem to contend. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to think that I could sprinkle it on my toast like little jimmies each morning, and stir it into my coffee, and spray it all over my body like sunscreen, without any concern whatsoever.
I am on record as stating, after watching Baghdad traffic on television shortly after the "liberation of Iraq" five years ago, that if we could convince Iraqi citizens to wear bicycle helmets, we could probably save more lives than the Iraqi people will lose to Depleted Uranium in their air, food, and water. Since then, however, we've dumped another estimated 2,000 tons of Depleted Uranium on the country, much of it in populated areas (the DU that had been used in Iraq up until the time I made that statement was mainly expended in deserts, well away from large population centers). There's naturally-occurring Uranium everywhere already, of course.
Radiation can cause, and therefore DU can cause: Cancer, leukemia, birth defects, heart disease, neurological damage, chronic kidney pain, kidney stones, skin cancer, infants born with organs outside their bodies or without brains, limbs, vital internal organs (these babies don't live very long), or without genitalia (or with both kinds). Radiation might have caused my bladder cancer last year.
You said I could send Mangano's book "Radioactive Baby Teeth: The Cancer Link" to you "if I want to." What I wanted was to prove that you accused him of fraud without ever having seen his book or his research, and that you don't know what it's about, which I've done.
However, if you send me your postal address, which you haven't yet done -- further proof you're afraid of the truth -- I'll send you a copy, so you can verify for yourself that I have not lied, and Mangano did not commit fraud.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA
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Useful URLs for Helbig and his team to try to find fraud in:
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It's All About the DNA:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environment/tritium/2007/ItsAllAboutTheDNA.htm
Tritium Explained (why "Low Level Radiation" can be disproportionately harmful):
http://animatedsoftware.com/environment/tritium/2006/EPATritiumStandard.htm
Nuclear Power Kills: Here's How:
http://www.counterpunch.com/hoffman06272007.html
More essays, mostly about nukes:
http://animatedsoftware.com/environment/no_nukes/
POISON FIRE USA: An animated history of major nuclear activities in the continental United States, including over 1500 data points, accurately placed in time and space:
www.animatedsoftware.com/poifu/poifu.swf
How does a nuclear power plant work (animations of the two typical U.S. reactor designs):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/nukequiz/nukequiz_one/nuke_parts/reactor_parts.swf
Internet Glossary of Nuclear Terminology / "The Demon Hot Atom," a look at the history of nuclear power:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/index.htm
NO NUKES IN SPACE (what was on board Columbia?):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.swf
or try:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/mx/nasa/columbia/index.html
SCE Memo / One Bad Day At San Onofre (roll mouse over ONE BAD DAY and leave it there for a minute or two to watch an animation of several disastrous events take place at San Onofre):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/onofre/2005/sce_memo/sce_memo_2004.html
List of every nuclear power plant in America, with history, activist orgs, specs, etc.:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/nukelist.htm
List of ~300 books and videos about nuclear issues in my collection:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/mybooks.htm
Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
Depleted Uranium: The Malignant Bullet:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environment/du/dumb.html
Trouble in Paradise:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/tip/tip.html
Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer: How big a bang do you need?
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environment/nbec/nbec.swf
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Also by Ace Hoffman:
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Animated Periodic Table of the Elements:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/apt.html
Selected Pump Animations with full frame control:
www.animatedsoftware.com/elearning/ProductDemos/FourPumpGroups/FourPumpGroups.html
"All About Pumps" educational software tutorial:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/elearning/All%20About%20Pumps/aapumps.swf
"Statistics Explained" educational software tutorial (co-author):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/elearning/Statistics%20Explained/statexpl.swf
"The Heart: The Engine of Life" educational tutorial about the human heart, originally written in 1984 and released for the first time in 1986 (co-author):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/elearning/Engine%20of%20Life/eolife.swf
All four of the educational products require passwords to be entered once:
ZINC (for the Animated Periodic Table)
MR. PUMP (for All About Pumps)
ANOVA (for Statistics Explained)
AORTA (for The Engine of Life)
The programs also ask for a "login ID," but that can be anything in the current releases.
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Seven Seconds in San Marcos: How to survive a attempted head-on collision:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cunningham/CelebrityJustice.swf
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==================================================
Prior correspondence with from Helbig:
==================================================
At 07:10 PM 5/2/2008 -0700, "Roger Helbig" <rwhelbig@gmail.com> wrote:
>You are fairly mistaken, but there are better low hanging fruit for
>now. Remember, figures don't lie, but liars can figure. When you
>remember that, you will come to the realization that the anti-DU
>crusade is full of the latter.
>
>Roger
>
>I had an Uncle who fought at the Cassino as well -- he did not do well
>after the war but he was always nice to me - I got to fire the Luger
>he brought home when I was about 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
About a week earlier, this arrived:
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At 02:17 AM 4/27/2008 -0700, "Roger Helbig" <rhelbig@california.com> wrote:
>Where's the honesty ---Mr Hoffman -- you really aren't playing with a full
>deck and neither is Mangano - you want to send me the book, go right ahead,
>but I sort of doubt your offer.
>
>DU has been found by numerous scientists to be a serious threat to no one --
>this nanoparticle stuff is just smokescreen - did you read the UNEP report
>from Boznia-Herzegovina, how about the IAEA report from Kuwait. Far as the
>peer review of Mangano, who were the peers, experts on what is found in
>teeth. Uranium does not concentrate in teeth. That's pretty well
>established.
>
>I will put your challenge up on RADSAFE and maybe a real scientist will
>puncture your balloon. If Mangano doesn't like me calling him a fraud, then
>let him defend himself. Yes, it is a serious charge, but he doesn't want to
>go to court because he will lose.
>
>Roger W Helbig
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Roger Helbig [mailto:rwhelbig@gmail.com]
>Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 1:33 PM
>To: rhelbig@california.com
>Subject: Fwd: Where's the fraud, Mr. Helbig?
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>From: Russell 'Ace' Hoffman <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
>Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:12:39 -0700
>Subject: Where's the fraud, Mr. Helbig?
>To: Roger Helbig <rwhelbig@gmail.com>
>
>April 25th, 2008
>
>Mr. Helbig,
>
>Regarding your email (shown below), what you're basically saying is
>that you don't actually have any specific charges of fraud, you just
>heard from somebody on RADSAFE that Mangano had committed fraud, and
>that's good enough for you.
>
>Remember, Mangano's book discusses PEER REVIEWED studies. Or didn't
>you know that? Have you read the book? I doubt it, of course, but
>I'll be happy to send you a copy for your review, IF you promise to
>read all 149 pages. If you can spare an afternoon, that is.
>
>As you probably know, fraud is a very serious and specific charge,
>especially when made against a scientist for his work. Fraud can be
>proven in court.
>
>You've not only made the claim that Mangano committed fraud, but that
>I've been taken in by it. So if you have anything, I'd be very
>interested to see what you have. But as I said, I won't hold my
>breath. You made the claim, let's see if you can prove it.
>
>Depleted Uranium is a serious threat to human life because in battle
>it is pulverized into nanoparticles which then get into the food chain
>or directly into the body (one would think that the effect on U.S.
>soldiers would be of special concern for you). U-238's half-life of
>4.468 billion years is about 6.35 times longer than U-235's half-life
>of about 704 million years, and only about 0.7% of the original
>uranium was U-235 anyway (and 0.055% was U-234, with its much-shorter
>half-life of about 245,400 years).
>
>A lot of DU also has fission products in it because it comes from
>reprocessed reactor cores, NOT "virgin" uranium ore left over from the
>enrichment process. Fission products in the environment are an even
>greater hazard than the U-238. Most people refer to as "DU" as though
>it were "pure" U-238. It never is.
>
>Fission products can be 100,000 times or even several billion times
>MORE radioactive than U-238, the main isotope in DU. Some fission
>products are radioactive elements that the body thinks are useful, so
>it aggregates them to where it needs them. (It does not do this with
>heavy metals. They "just" barge through the body destroying things
>until the moment of decay, then the radioactive daughter (fission)
>products start causing THEIR damage.)
>
>So whether the uranium comes from reprocessing matters greatly, even
>if the percentage of fission products is only a tiny fraction -- say,
>a few tenths of a percent (DU is about 99.6% U-238, the rest being
>other isotopes of uranium, plus plutonium and other radioactive
>fission (and activation) products.)
>
>And thank you for your response to my first letter. My father entered
>WWII at Cassino, then joined the invasion of Southern France, fought
>through the Ardennes, then was rushed to the relief of Bastogne
>(NUTS!), fought in the Battle of the Bulge, crossed the Ruhr and the
>Rhine, was under fire throughout Germany, and met the Russians at the
>Elbe, after more than a year of continuous combat. He was a long-time
>subscriber to my newsletter until his death at 81 in 2006. He was a
>world-renowned scientist who studied experimental psychology at a
>number of prestigious universities, and together we co-authored an
>educational software tutorial which teaches first-semester statistics
>(I did the programming. He had taught statistics for nearly 50
>years).
>
>So don't try to impress me with anything but FACTS.
>
>Now, where's the fraud, Mr. Helbig?
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Ace
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 02:59 PM 4/12/2008 -0700, "Roger Helbig" <rwhelbig@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Googling and only listening to one side of a story may not tell you
>much fact. I will dig back into my records, but I also am quite sure
>that the tooth fairy approach has been well discussed on the
>international radiation protection list RADSAFE in Holland.
>>
>>For the record, other than the fact that I share a mutual hatred with
>Leuren K Moret, who was brought out of the internet by my jackass
>neighbor from hell, to support him in his efforts to avoid paying
>damages for tearing down part of our backyard fence (see atch and tell
>me if you would like this in your yard), Bob Nichols, Douglas Lind
>Rokke and Dennis Kyne and I am like Rokke a member of the retired
>reserve, the rest of what you have read about me on the anti-DU lists
>is pretty much false. Moret really outdid herself with her post to
>the Nelson BC list -- I may sue her for slander if I get some time,
>but right now my real job is keeping me more than busy.
>>
>>If you want to find the real me, look for Coopers and Lybrand, Navy
>and TQM, the determined whistleblower side - that part of me is quite
>angry at Moret and Rokke falsely claiming to be "whistleblowers" --
>you might also look for "The Navy's Scientology Connection" the short
>article I got into the Washington Post --
>>
>>Roger Helbig
>>
>>by the way, if I were really some sort of spook, do you think I would
>use my real name - I am not a coward like Upsilquitch (believed to be
>Ted Weymann)
>>
>>On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 7:42 AM, Russell 'Ace' Hoffman
><rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com> wrote:
>>Mr. Helbig,
>>Yeah, sure -- and you've got the scientific proof that Mangano
>committed fraud? LET'S SEE IT. Of course, I won't hold my breath
>waiting for you to back up your assertion, since you'll NEVER be able
>to do it, because you don't have it, because you don't know what
>you're talking about (and yes, I know a bit about who you are. I can
>Google people to check them out, too).
>>Ace
>>At 03:57 AM 4/12/2008 -0700, you wrote:
>>>Let's see, what other frauds have you been taken in by? I have seen
>your name on more than one.
>>>
>>>Roger
>
>
>*************************************************
>
** Russell "Ace" Hoffman, Carlsbad CA