Anyone else having problems with editors at SS mistaking white stones on the ground small pieces of litter or white tops of waves for lens dust or marks on sensor. 

Sensor dust is not going to show as white so you may be missing something the editor is seeing....?  Or, the editor is way off base.

I assume you view your images at 100% to check for that stuff....

Anyone else having problems with editors at SS mistaking white stones on the ground small pieces of litter or white tops of waves for lens dust or marks on sensor.

I had an image of the Brooklyn Bridge rejected recently for sensor spots. Since I knew i had the sensor professionally cleaned just that afternoon (after returning from the Indian Holi festival), I knew that could not be true.

Opened it up, and saw that there were seagulls in the distance...  Those really did not add to the scene though, and on first glance did look like spots.  I just cloned them out and resubmitted, and the image was accepted.

I normally don't bother doing that, but in this case I expected that other reviewers in other agencies might also jump to the same conclusion.  And, it turned out to sell just a couple days later, so I was right that it was a decent shot.