The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1961-04-28

AS was pointed out in the first
article, radiation can damage living
tissue, and it is, therefore, of con-
Germ to health authorities to know
how much radioactivity is in our food,
air. and water. In this article we will
get some idea of how much radio
activity has contaminated our environ
ment. and we will examine the ques-
tions of how much fallout is danger
Gus, and what might happen if u
nuclear war was permitted to occur.
Although the phenomenon of radio
active fallout was known to the u. S.
government following the first nu-
clear weapon test in 1916, it was not
until the middle fifties that any
serious studies of radioactive contami-
nation of our foods, soils, and bones
was begun by governmental agen-
cies Governmental activity in this
field was apparently stimulated by
the fact that Independent scientific
groups were beginning Investigations.
Also the accidental busting with
the fallout of the crew of the Japan
csc fishing vessel Lucky Dragon"
and of number of natives of Ronge-
lap Island occurred in 1854 as a re-
suit of the Aces testing of hydro
gen weapons in the Pacific Ocean.
From this exposure to fallout one
fisherman died and the subsequent
Juror in Japan described in DR..
Ralph Lapp's fascinating book, "The
Voyage of the Lucky Dragon") |
brought the fallout problem into the |
open. The Acc now operates Health
and Safety Laboratory in New York
City which reports regularly on ra-
dioactivity in substances such as air,
soil, water, foods, human breast milk,
animal, and human bones.
SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM
SET UP IN 1856
In 1856 the u. S. Public Health
Service established a radioactive fall
out surveillance program. In doing
this, the government answered OBJ
jections of many scientists who
pointed out that it was not sound
policy to have the Acc responsible
health of the nuclear weapons which
the Acc itself was testing. The
u. S. Public Health Service program
was at first very limited and included
analyses of milk from only twelve
stations scattered from New
ork to California. In 1860 this was
expanded to test milk from so sam
Wing stations including one at Helena,
Montana
These studies of the Acc and
the USPHS show that during the |
period when the U.S.A., U.S.S.R.,
and Great Britain were testing !
bombs the radioactivity of differ
emit foods rose steadily, but that :
since the unofficial moratorium on
nuclear weapons tests the radio
activity has been decreasing in GER
tain indicator foods.
In the accompanying graph from
recent Acc report we see that
due to Sr-9O in milk
rom Mandan, North Dakota increased
rom about 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS per
ram of calcium in 1855 to a high
f almost so in 1859. This was the
ighest level reported in the world.
1t should be recalled that Sr-90 is
trictly man-made substance. 1t did
OF exist until the first nuclear ex-
losion).
Radioactivity due to Sr-90 is meas
red in our foods because Sr-90 seems
, behave like calcium in our bodies,
nd it has very long half-life, as
Explained in the first article. The
nit, micromicrocuries of Sr-90 per
ram of calcium, is called a Stron-
UNI Unit (S.U.) and relates the
nit of radioactivity (micromicro-
lrie) to constant amount of cal
um
Health authorities are concerned
about Sr-9O in milk because the
after is one of the chief sources
IF calcium Cor Sr-90) especially
or children.
Sr-9O gets into many other foods
addition to milk. Wheat grown in
Montana, and Illinois has
EN- found to contain hundreds of
~ontium units and this means that