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LEAD Action News Volume 22 Number 4 December 2024 Page 42 of 131

Portable XRF Bone Lead Machine for Australia

Project

by Elizabeth O’Brien, BSc, Grad Dip Health Edn

Volcano Art Prize (VAP) 2024 Entry by Elizabeth

O’Brien. Title: pXRF Bone Lead Testing

Lead Safety Message: #Grandma Lead says: In our

lead safe future, everyone will have access to bone

lead testing by portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF)

using a Niton XL3t GOLDD+ (made by Thermo-

Fisher Scientific, USA). And all earthlings should

have less lead in our bones if Australian registered

voters sign the Circular Economy for Lead Petition

EN6714. Description of Work: iPhone 13 photo and

text added in Powerpoint. Petition EN6714 is at

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-

petitions/petition/EN6714 until Wed 04 Dec 2024

11:59 PM (AEDT).

https://volcanoartprize.com/portfolio-item/pxrf-bone-lead-testing/

At the 11th November 2024 Annual General Meeting of The LEAD Group, I informed

members that US$37,000 could buy a Niton Thermo Fisher XL3t+ GOLDD+ XRF scanner

and that Dr Aaron Specht has been using these machines for a decade and has published

some 20 journal articles on his results, as well as being available to either validate the

portable XRF (pXRF) machine in the US or to have his costs covered to validate it in

Australia. pXRF machines are normally used for mining exploration, but Aaron Specht has

led the academic world in their use to assess bone lead burdens. For research use by

academics (perhaps in combination with an Australian pathology company, lead mine or lead

poisoning prevention centre such as are found in Port Pirie lead smelter town, South

Australia or Broken Hill lead mining town, New South Wales, or Mt Isa lead smelter and lead

mining town, Queensland) would need ethics approval.

I added that these Niton pXRF scanners could be used to measure bone lead burden in

mining and smelting towns to assess the effectiveness of detoxification methods. The

accuracy is linked to the thickness of skin over the tibia – the less fat the more accurate the

bone lead XRF result. They can also be used to measure lead in wildlife that have eaten or

been shot with lead shot.

Tim Pye asked if it is safe to point x-rays at living people. I assured the meeting that this is

safe and would thus pass ethics approval. It would be a long-held dream of mine come true if

the first person pXRF bone lead tested in Australia would be Martin Bryant, the Port Arthur

Massacre shooter who began serving 35 consecutive life sentences in prison in Tasmania after

he was found guilty of 35 shooting deaths in 1996.

After I sent the following email to Aaron Specht, he replied with the next two

articles so our Project to ensure that a has been launched!!

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LEAD Action News Volume 22 Number 4 December 2024 Page 43 of 131

Sent: Wednesday, 25 December 2024 11:47 AM

To: Aaron Specht

Thanks so much Aaron Specht for all these articles listed in LID (LibraryID) order in the

following: Specht et al LIDs re pXRF in LEAD Group Library.

They came just in time to inspire me to add the following item to our charity’s Annual

General Meeting agenda:

Item: Portable XRF Bone Lead Machine for Australia

Motion: That The LEAD Group Inc embarks on a Project to have a Portable XRF machine in

Australia for bone lead assessment of cumulative lead exposure in humans and wildlife, as

well as assessment of other metals including strontium to assess adult bone mineral density

and fracture risk (as bone fractures release stored lead from bones).

My proposal was accepted unanimously and I have since put out feelers to the Chinese-

owned Perilya lead mining company in Broken Hill and to some academics and pXRF-

utilising consultancy companies to get on board the Project, but to date I have had no

response so… nothing positive to report.

But the best idea Tim Pye had at the AGM was that you might already have written text

promoting the use of pXRF for bone lead research - perhaps from a grant application or any

other summary of what you’ve already done with this wondrous Niton machine - so I

wondered if you could send something through for when I get back on the horse on this issue

in 2025?

Elizabeth

Volcano Art Prize (VAP) 2024 Entry by Elizabeth O’Brien. Title: Daily Lead Detox Foods

Lead Safety Message: I eat 30 different plants plus mushrooms daily and take LivOn Vit C, Vit D, calcium and

magnesium. I experiment with fresh ginger in every meal (then double the dose), and fresh garlic for brekky and

lunch to see if I can get my blood lead level to fall but if I could have bone lead testing by pXRF, I’d know for sure

what works!

Description of Work: iPhone 13 photos collaged in Powerpoint.

https://volcanoartprize.com/portfolio-item/daily-lead-detox-foods/

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