Washington (CNN) -- There is no health risk from consuming milk with extremely low levels of radiation, like those found in Washington state and California, experts said Thursday, echoing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"When we have a disaster like we've had with a nuclear power plant in Japan, we're probably going to find things that are truly not a public health risk, but I think it's very difficult for the public to assimilate this information and understand the risks," said Dr. Wally Curran, a radiation oncologist and head of Emory University's Winship Cancer Center.
The federal agency said Wednesday it was increasing its nationwide monitoring of radiation in milk, precipitation, drinking water, and other outlets. It already tracks radiation in those potential exposure routes through an existing network of stations across the country.
Results from screening samples of milk taken in the past week in Spokane, Washington, and in San Luis Obispo County, California, detected radioactive iodine, or iodine-131, at a level 5,000 times lower than the limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, officials said.
At that level, a person would have to drink 1,000 liters of milk to receive the same amount of radiation as a chest X-ray, said Dr. James Cox, radiation oncologist at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The I-131 isotope has a very short half-life of about eight days, the EPA said, so the level detected in milk and milk products is expected to drop relatively quickly.
"The good news about iodine is, it has a short half-life," said Curran. "It doesn't dwell in any biologic system, be it an adult, a child, a cow, for any significant period of time, and at those levels there's no evidence that there's any medical significance."
Radiation gets into the milk because it falls on grass eaten by cows. The milk does not itself absorb radiation.
FDA senior scientist Patricia Hansen also said the findings are "minuscule" compared to what people experience every day.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said tests confirmed the milk is safe to drink.
"This morning I spoke with the chief advisers for both the EPA and the FDA and they confirmed that these levels are minuscule and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children," Gregoire said in a statement.
"According to them, a pint of milk at these levels would expose an individual to less radiation than would a five-hour airplane flight."
Similarly, the California Department of Public Health reassured residents that the levels do not pose a threat.
"When radioactive material is spread through the atmosphere, it drops to the ground and gets in the environment. When cows consume grass, hay, feed, and water, radioactivity will be processed and become part of the milk we drink. However, the amounts are so small they pose no threat to public health," the department said.
At least 15 states have reported radioisotopes from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in air or water or both. No states have recommended that residents take potassium iodide, a salt that protects the thyroid gland from radioactive iodine.
Iodine-131 has been found in Eastern states from Florida to Massachusetts as well as in Western states like Oregon, Colorado, and California, according to sensors and officials in those states.
None of the levels poses a risk to public health, they said.
At high levels, the isotope focuses on and accumulates in a person's thyroid gland, Curran said. A medical test for thyroid health involves a person ingesting iodine-131 and undergoing a nuclear scan to examine the gland.
The Japanese plant has been leaking radiation since it was damaged in a tsunami that followed a massive earthquake March 11.
14 comments:
I definitely think radiation is something people don't understand. It's always associated with horrible things like Chernobyl and the aftereffects of the atomic bomb, but radiation in itself is not necessarily dangerous. This milk thing really shouldn't be a big deal to anyone, and I hope no one overreacts.
Although I do not know much about nuclear energy or radiation, it appears to me that a bit of extra testing is not a bad idea. I hope people don't freak out too much about poisoning though, because this article and others lead me to believe it isn't a very pressing issue as of now. I will continue to drink milk as of now. If anything changes in Japan, who knows?
I hope that this is the worst of the radiation that we might be exposed to. I also hope that people don't freak out over this and cause panic.
People freak out too much about radiation. Whenever an incident occurs where some is released, it is always in super low amounts too where no damage will be done. The government obviously takes this problem seriously and will do whatever it can to protect the people. They also reassure us that if exposed, we are still safe. Is dangerous levels of radiation were exposed to us, the government would ensure our safety.
I had never considered the idea of America having any radiological side effects from the Japanese nuclear disaster. I have no fears from such an issue and hope that a general level of panic does not ensue from rather minor issues such as these. Considering many Americans receive high levels of radiation simply from being outside or heating last nights leftovers, I believe we have little to fear from the current circumstances. Now if the reactor does break the inner core, that will be a different situation...
The studies show that the radioactive materials in the milk are not significant enough to cause any harm to our population. The public's safety is cause for concern, so it is great that the findings show no serious threat to our society. Because there are still traces of radioactive material, there will continue to be questions about the health risks of the milk until the traces disappear, but knowing that the milk is safe eases some concerns.
I'm glad experts cleared things up and told people just how harmless this radiation milk is. Because all people need right now is one more thing to freak out over. Oh and I wouldnt be the least bit surprised if we saw a great increase in the number of super heroes to come out of California and Washington in the upcomming months.
The government wants the well being for the people and their proposal that the radiation content is not significant enough to harm us should be relevant
Even though it would take a lot of milk to drink and there is some radiation found in foods we eat, I would not feel comfortable drinking milk. Sounds like another reason not to drink milk. Nobody's really certain of the risk 30 years from now.
It's good to know that the government is protecting our health as well as our freedom. If scientific tests say the radiation in the milk isn't a big deal then it's not a big deal.
If there is not a health risk in consuming milk or drinking water, why tell the public? Its not going to hurt us, there's some radiation in it, so what? I believe the FDA should not tell citizens this because it causes chaos between the people. My grandma for example, went ballistic when she heard there was radiation in milk and drinking water, she won't buy any until there is no radiation whatsoever, and is discouraging us to not buy as well. The FDA should have kept this information to itself, because most Americans worry easily.
With the incidents happening in Japan I can see why citizens are worried about what they are drinking. I don't feel that everyone should be that afraid of drinking dairy because the FDA did approve that drinking the milk is perfectly fine an will not harm us. They even gave evidence of drinking one thousand glasses of milk will be like a chest X-ray. It's not every one is going to go out and bye thousands of gallons of milk and drink that and only that. I personally think that drinking the milk is fine until some specialist says it is harmful.
It is a good thing that the radiation level is 5000 times lower than the limit set by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. Some and even newspapers were worrying about high levels of radiation that were exposed from the nuclear plants in Fukushima Daiichi, Japan. In this sense, we shouldn't be too worried, but we still need to be aware about possible radiations to come, and take this case as a warning for preventing disasters in our own nuclear plants.
America just has a bad case of hypochondria. There was sure to be signs of radiation in america, but it seems unreasonable that they could be dangerous, and in fact they aren't. There is no reason for panic.
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