In most theories of gravity involving torsion, the source for torsion is the intrinsic spin of matter. Since the spins of fermions are normally randomly oriented in macroscopic bodies, the torsion generated is normally negligible. However, in a recen
t paper, Mao et al. point out that there is a class of theories in which the angular momentum of macroscopic spinning bodies generates a significant amount of torsion. They argue that by the principle of action equals reaction, one would expect the angular momentum of test bodies to couple to a background torsion field, and therefore the precession of the GPB gyroscopes should be affected in these theories by the torsion generated by the Earth. We show that in fact the principle of action equals reaction does not apply to these theories. We examine in detail a generalization of the Hayashi-Shirafuji theory suggested by Mao et al. called Einstein-Hayashi-Shirafuji theory. There are a variety of differe
