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How do we know that the bloodstains are from real blood?
Alan Adler, an expert on porphyrins, the types of colored compounds seen in blood, chlorophyll, and many other natural products concluded that the blood is real. In collaboration with John Heller, the conclusions that the blood is real was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Applied Optics [19, (16) 1980]. The heme was converted into its parent porphyrin, and this was confirmed with spectral analysis.
Baima Bollone also found both the heme porphyrin ring of blood and the globulin in flakes of blood from Shroud samples, independently confirming the work of Adler and Heller.
In addition, the x-ray-fluorescence spectra showed excess iron in blood areas, as expected for blood. Microchemical tests for proteins were positive in blood areas but not in any other parts of the Shroud.
See: Did Walter McCrone find blood on the Shroud of Turin? What else can be observed about the bloodstains? How do we know that the blood on the Shroud is real? Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal (1981)
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© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
