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1980 www.thelancet.com Vol 382 December 14, 2013
As the authors note in their report,1
the absence of myelosuppression and hair loss do not favour acute radiation syndrome, and the other symptoms suff ered by Arafat, including nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, and anorexia, followed by multiple organ failure are non-specific. To suggest that these symptoms were caused by polonium poisoning is pure speculation in the absence of hard forensic evidence.
Unfortunately, articles such as this report, which raise the spectre of the possible political assassination of an emotive fi gure, might lead to severe consequences.
The Lancet has a moral duty to report important medical facts, and it should heed the important principle of “fi rst do no harm”.I declare that I have no confl icts of interest.
Simon [email protected]
St Mary’s Hospital, London W21NY, UK
1 Froidevaux P, Baechler S, Bailat CJ, et al. Improving forensic investigation for polonium poisoning. Lancet 2013; 382: 1308.
samples showed increased activity or how urine stains were identifi ed.
It is shocking and reprehensible that The Lancet published such a report that could become a political bombshell without providing all the information needed for proper assessment of the validity of the data. If this report was subjected to peer review, then I can only assume that The Lancet selected those reviewers with great care!
“Three scientifi c teams are currently analysing body, shrine, and earth samples”1...Was The Lancet so fearful those analyses would not show polonium poisoning that it deemed appropriate to publish this report in advance? Interestingly, the 17-page Russian forensic report on Arafat’s death states that the working hypothesis regarding the subject’s death being caused by penetration of ²¹⁰Po into his body was recognised as unsubstantiated.2
I declare that I have no confl icts of interest.
Jeff rey Fesseljeff [email protected]
Kaiser Permanente Medicine, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
1 Froidevaux P, Baechler S, Bailat CJ, et al. Improving forensic investigation for polonium poisoning. Lancet 2013; 382: 1308.
2 Al Jazeera Investigative Unit. Russian forensic 2 Al Jazeera Investigative Unit. Russian forensic report on Arafat’s death. http://www.aljazeera.report on Arafat’s death. http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/killing-arafat/russian-com/investigations/killing-arafat/russian-forensic-report-arafat-death-20131189 forensic-report-arafat-death-20131189 959812216.html (accessed Nov 25, 2013).959812216.html (accessed Nov 25, 2013).
and relevant organisations, to pro-vide financial support to help initiating research on this issue and its consequences on the future of the Yemeni community. A national incentive programme could be put in place to support families to keep their young daughters. Awareness campaigns through local and social media could clear misconceptions about this issue from the Islamic perspective and educate people about its short-term and long-term risks.
Children and human rights advocates should work towards bettering the future of innocent children in Yemen.I declare that I have no confl icts of interest.
Abdulhadi A [email protected]
College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia
1 UNICEF. Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse. http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html (accessed Nov 25, 2013).
2 Todd M. An ‘aspirin’ that could relieve the pain of child marriage. http://www.psmag.com/culture/aspirin-relieve-pain-child-marriage-66320/ (accessed Nov 25, 2013)
3 Nour NM. Child marriage: a silent health and human rights issue. Rev Obstet Gynecol 2009; 2: 51–56.
Political Lancet
For many years The Lancet has advocated on behalf of the Palestinians, sometimes justifiably, but often unjustifiably. On several occasions, I have protested against a distinguished medical journal advocating political issues—only tangentially medical. Now, the latest Lancet salvo is fi red under the innocent title “Improving forensic investigation for polonium poisoning” (Oct 12, p 1308).1 In this report (about Yasser Arafat’s death), the authors state that ”several samples containing body fluid stains (blood and urine) contained higher unexplained ²¹⁰Po activities than the reference samples”.1 No laboratory numerical data are provided; nor how many different
The publication by The Lancet of a Case Report1 on the possible poisoning of Yasser Arafat by polonium was an irresponsible act, which could lead to loss of innocent life.
Although the reporting of scientifi c facts regarding Arafat’s belongings might be of interest to radiation scientists, it is diffi cult to understand how this has any medical bearing, and how it could be of interest to clinicians. There is as yet no formal evidence in the public arena of results of samples directly from Arafat’s body. The provenance of the samples from his belongings, provided by his wife, is questionable.
Department of ErrorEl Arifeen S, Christou A, Reichenbach L, et al. Community-based approaches and partnerships: innovations in health-service delivery in Bangladesh. Lancet 2013; 382: 2012–26—In this report, the fourth sentence of the Introduction should have read “Figure 1 depicts this success compared with other countries in the region.” The table has been corrected. These corrections have been made to the online version, as of Dec 13, 2013, and to the printed report.
Thayyil S, Sebire NJ, Chitty LS, for the MARIAS collaborative group. Post-mortem MRI versus conventional autopsy in fetuses and children: a prospective validation study. Lancet 2013; 382: 223–33—In this Article (July 20), in the second sentence of the Findings section of the Summary, the 95% CI for newborns aged 1 month or younger should have been 66·7–90·0. Table 3 has been corrected. These corrections have been made to the online version, as of Dec 13, 2013.
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