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Japan Radiation Makes Its Way into Milk
By Erin Sherbert @ SF Weekly

Before you pour that next bowl of cereal, read this: Scientists in Berkeley told reporters that indeed the radioactive plum from the disastrous nuclear leak in Japan has made its way into an American staple -- milk.

The good news is that scientists said the low levels of radiation are "minuscule" and not harmful to people. Sort of. You would have to drink it everyday for about a year-and-a-half to feel any side effects from it.

Last week, state officials confirmed that the low doses of radiation had been found in rainwater and air samples at the UC Berkeley campus. However, health officials said a person would have to drink 500 liters of it to feel the effects, which is unlikely considering the average person drinks about two liters of water on a daily basis.

Radiation form the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant initially reached Southern California on March 18, but at that point, tests showed that the radiation and its effects had greatly dissipated.


Milk shows trace radiation in Ca., Wash.
By Pat Brennan @ OC Register

Milk samples from San Luis Obispo and Spokane, Washington, have revealed minute traces of radiation linked to the nuclear crisis in Japan, federal and state officials said.

The levels are 5,000 times below any that would trigger health concerns.

Traces of radioactive iodine-131 were found Mar. 28 in milk from San Luis Obispo, according to the California Department of Public Health.

And it was detected in a Spokane milk sample Mar. 25, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Milk cows most likely picked up the trace radiation from the grass they feed on, or from drinking water, the EPA said.

Radiation monitoring has been stepped up for milk, precipitation and drinking water because of the Japanese crisis, the EPA says. While air is always monitored, the others are normally sampled only a few times a year.

Very low levels of radiation also have been found in recent weeks in several West Coast locations, including Anaheim and Riverside, but only when filters from radiation detectors are examined in the lab for extremely tiny amounts — 100,000 to one million times below the threshold for health concerns, the EPA says.

The Anaheim detector and others do not register such tiny amounts on their hourly, automated samplings. Anaheim continues to show no increased radiation risk above background levels.

The detector, part of EPA’s nationwide network known as Radnet, is maintained by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which is posting daily updates on radiation readings.

Tiny amounts also have been detected in air samples from Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Saipan, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the state of Washington.

All samples are well below normal, background radiation from construction materials, television sets, even cross-country flights, federal officials say.

Experts say California is highly unlikely to receive radiation from Japan that would rise to health-concern levels.

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