McCrone did two of the tests done in 1973, and he either did or did not get the ‘blood’ into solution before proceeding with the benzidine and sulfuric acid tests; if he got the ‘blood’ into solution, even as the Italians did not, then McCrone could not have honestly said “I find it impossible to fault the [1973] work.” I conclude that the other possibility is the correct one: McCrone did not get the ‘blood’ into solution, in which case, his negative results with the two tests, like the 1973 results, are meaningless.
McCrone performed the phenolphthalein test, which is much more difficult to do than the benzidine test. 54 Since McCrone could not even properly handle the benzidine test, I conclude that he could not have properly done the much more complicated phenolphthalein test, in which case his obtaining negative result(s) with the latter is worthless. The Takayama and Teichman tests yielded McCrone negative results, yet since they are so insensitive, negative results with them does not mean blood is absent
Fischer, writing with the assistance of Nickell and Mueller, alleges that they found that hydrazine also dissolves “tempera paint composed of the pigments and medium identified by McCrone” and produces a pink hemochromagen-like color, thereby suggesting that H&A’s hydrazine test is given to false positives. 133 I strongly suspect that the medium referred to is a proteinaceous tempera made from animal collagen (the sources being muscle, skin, tendons, bones, cartilage, etc.), 134 and that the pigments referred to are iron oxide, vermilion/ mercury-sulfide, and rose madder. Since McCrone believes he saw merely “a few particles” of rose madder pigment, 135 since he thinks that “nearly all of the colored particles on the [Shroud] tapes are red ochre,” 136 and since McCrone’s writings give scant mention to rose madder, I fail to see the basis for Fisher et al.’s viewing rose madder as being somehow significant to discussions of what the ‘blood’ is. Parenthetically, the color “madder” was derived from the root of the field plant Rubea tinctorum; a chemical substance in the root called “alizarine” is responsible for the red color of madder.
Those are quotes from pages 4 and 10.
McCrone's systematic errors as mentioned in the earlier post are damning enough (lack of controls, no independent replication, contamination of the sample with matrix material which would interfere with the test, nonspecificity of tests, confusion on his own conclusions); coupled with the fact that he was unable to get his work through peer-review, while A&H were; and finally, the fact that A&H used multiple independent tests from different types of measurement, all of which reinforced each other, makes the conclusions inescapable. The stains are human blood.
The only reason you accept McCrone is that it fits your preconceived notions, because you are afraid that any validation of the Shroud could lead to verification of the supernatural.
But as has been repeatedly pointed out, you don't have to go that far if you don't want to.
At that same time, at least you read the article, tho' with biases much in evidence: mental filters firmly on.
How do you feel about anthropogenic global warming?
Cheers!