Got [Radioactive] Milk?

Radiation has been found in U.S. milk (so says the news). Oh, but don't panic... the "experts" say it's all a matter of dosage, and in this case, the dosage is very low. Nice.

(Photo: courtesy of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences)

"So how is my milk getting nuked, albeit in low doses?" you may ask. Unless you've been asleep under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you no doubt heard about the distressing events that have been unfolding in Japan since the dumb earth quake, and dumber tsunami hit. Here's a quick recap: The water from the tsunami screwed up some nuclear reactor thing-jiggers, resulting in some explosions due to overheating of some nuclear stuff-jiggers, leading to some other stuff I'm still trying to get my head around. And now they have varying levels of nuclear material in their air, in their drinking water, and in their ocean.

"But that still doesn't explain how we're getting our milk nuked!" You're right-- we're getting there. You may or may not know that radiation can (and does) travel by hitching a ride with other stuff, for example, water and dust particles in the air. These particles get moved around from place to place by the wind... and a flight from Japan to the U.S. is not that far for a dust particle. These particles get to the U.S., settle on grass, cows eat grass, and ... well the milk gets contaminated with the radiation.

"Aaah gotit! O.k., but we're safe right?" you might ask. Ahem...I'm not an expert on anything nuclear or physics-ish-- not even close. But I do think. And I read. When radioactive particles go up into the clouds and accumulate, and when it finally rains, radiation spills forth in higher concentrations than when it first went up... kinda like that adage about little drops of water making a mighty ocean. If your head is spinning right now, check out this diagram for a better(?) explanation of how radiation can travel and how it can get concentrated in certain areas:

(Photo: From nytimes.com-- http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/03/24/world/asia/24japan-grx.html?ref=asia)

A couple of days ago, I heard some smart ass on CNN say "The solution to pollution is dilution." Cute. How do we dilute the milk we drink to reduce the amounts of radiation in it? Don't say water-- it's in there too. How do we dilute the cows' grass? How do we dilute radioactive particles accumulating in rain clouds? Let me know when you find the answers. Just kidding; I could care less about the answers. The truth is, there's not much anyone can do (not for long anyway) if our food sources are contaminated by high levels of radiation, so it's kind of a waste of energy to stress about it. I only wrote this blog post because it was fun to think about... have a great radiation filled day!

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