Will you consider testing local milk
Thanks again for this great public service!
While the values in the air/water seem small, I wonder about bioaccumulation, esp. in milk.
Can you test local milk in the same manner you have done for the rain water?
I've read that in children 95% of i-131 exposure in via milk (correct me in this is incorrect)
Thanks
Yes, we have contemplating
Yes, we have contemplating this and we can test using the same method. However, we have learned that even though we may have local dairy farms, they may not be using local feed. One would need to test free-range dairy cow milk. There are so few of these around that I don't think this will be fair to the small dairy farms. We will most likely just do a random sampling of milk at a large supermarket. The rain will clear up over the weekend and our liquid testing station will be free to test other things.
Milk testing
We always drink Straus organic milk. We know that the Straus cows feed on Marin meadows, which could have a significantly greater fallout risk than Midwestern sources. On the other hand, switching to a large commercial supplier doesn't seem to offer a reliable alternative, because we don't know where that milk comes from or what the cows have been fed. Will you give sources for the milk you plan to test?
Good question. We do not
Good question. We do not intend to release the sources for obvious reasons. The levels we expect in milk, and we DO expect to see something, will be lower than the rain water and will not pose a health risk. The only thing I can say is if the milk is from cows that are being fed from grasses grown before the event, there is little chance that milk would be effected. That being said, please remain supporting your local dairies because the long-term benefit from having locally grown food and milk far outweighs the risk of any health effects from this short term exposure.
What about local eggs? I
What about local eggs? I understand that they can accumulate alot as well. The feed issue would be the same but there are also alot of free range egg suppliers in California.
That's great to hear, my
That's great to hear, my only real concern with the recent events is having a toddler drink higher levels of i-131 in milk.
A negative test in supermarket milk will put me a little more at ease.
We'll keep you posted. I'm
We'll keep you posted. I'm sure the positive health effects of drinking the milk more than outweigh the exposure risk.
Buy & freeze milk. It won't
Buy & freeze milk. It won't help with long half life isotopes, but for iodine it will. I stocked a month worth as soon as I heard a reactor was involved. Now I freeze a new container when I thaw a stored one.
Also, eat seafood. It's healthy too. And any slot taken by regular iodine can't be filled with I131.