For example, it is being used on Erik as a safe substitute for x-rays. But strontium-90 also came from the explosions. It has a half-life of fifty years and is being proven to cause prostate and thyroid cancer. The conventional belief is that radiation exposure was limited to areas downwind from the test sites in New Mexico and Utah. The NCI claims that the radiation from nuclear tests was spread throughout the country by wind and rain, exposing over 160 million people within a short time following the tests.
Doctors recommend that anyone exposed to ten rads or more be monitored for health defects.
Ionizing radiation, such as that formed by strontium-90, breaks up molecules in the body. This break up produces abnormal cells which often cause cancer. In actuality, the monitoring never happened because the population was never notified. In fact, most people still don't know or believe they were exposed. But their ignorance and disbelief still doesn't erase the fact that babies during that time received up to 160 rads from contaminated milk.