Archaeologists should test the ground and not each other unless absolutely
necessary. Edward Lanning, Ph.D., years ago told our class that one can test
the soil for trace elements that show that particular people used corn in
their diet, i.e., traces of copper if my memory serves me right, but try to
get support for this in CRM! By the way he was one of the "secret" reviewers
for archaeology proposals for the NSF and back in 1980 I saw all your resumes
in a class on "Proposal Writing" Ha! Not really everyone but did you know
Scotty MacNeish was a NY Golden Gloves champion?

The reason I brought up this topic is twofold. I once hired a "tech" along
the St; Lawrence River from the Labor Dept. He had been discharged for
"positive" results from his urine in Germany, then the courts found it
unconstitutional, the "Dishonorable Discharge" the government had to issue a
"General Discharge" and pay him salary for time lost. The tests can be wrong.

The second involves a question: Has anyone had their urine tested for
contaminants while working in this field? I'm thinking of starting a
self-help group, and hiring constitutional lawyers to protect my right to
contribute to Occupational Medicine which is another field being decimated by
the wider society, instead of embracing the help in preventing larger health
costs we'll all be paying for because of it.

George J. Myers, Jr.