milk in 1962...

(The key quote if you don't want to read down is "Iodine-131 in the thyroid was found only where appreciable levels of iodine-131 were observed in the pasteurized milk network samples in the area from which the thyroid specimen was obtained.")

I was just poking around the internet and found an EPA document with some measurements from some peak fallout times from nuclear bomb testing. It shows some years around 1962 and the yearly average - note that this goes for the entire year - for various isotopes. Generally accumulation of isotopes was worse in "Wet" areas of the country

"The whole-body and bone doses to people deriving their foodstuffs from "dry" areas of the U.S. are estimated to be somewhat less (possibly as much as one-third to one-half)than those deriving their food from "wet" areas." ("bone" doses would be the Strontium, back then Strontium and Cesium were a big problem it seems)
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/federal/frc_rpt4.pdf

So we have in the milk now in Berkeley .7 Bq/L iodine (temporary i hope!)
Average across the year of 1962 for iodine it says:
Wet areas 29 = 1.07 Bq/L
Dry areas 36 = 1.33 Bq/L(this year this is opposite what the findings were in general which almost always are higher in wet areas or where people eat and drink food from wet areas in the measurements "in Man")
Alaska 104 = 3.8 Bq/L(perhaps the proximity to Russia and winds directed from Soviet test sites)
Hawaii 12 = .44 Bq/L

So...I don't know, just some interesting data. Apparently radiation fallout falls many times more (up to 1000 times I read on idealist.ws) where there is rain and snow, which they found at Chernobyl too, creating "hot spots."

Actually maybe that doesn't apply to iodine - They might have a ton more data since then, especially from Chernobyl, but I think this is interesting anyway:

The deposition of iodine-131 is largely associated with material initially injected into the troposphere and hence is not systematically related to the mean annual rainfall. (what does that mean??)

4.25 Since November 1961, the Public Health Service with the cooperation of selected medical centers throughout the continental United States has collected and analyzed several hundred thyroid autopsy specimens. The thyroids were primarily from adults experiencing a traumatic death. (gosh so dramatic!)

Iodine-131 values ranged from 0-20 picocuries per gram of thyroid with a probable mean in the range of 5-7 picocuries per gram. Iodine-131 in the thyroid was found only where appreciable levels of iodine-131 were observed in the pasteurized milk network samples in the area from which the thyroid specimen was obtained.

4.26 The highest station for iodine-131 in milk in the continental U.S. in 1962 was in Utah. A large percentage of the observed iodine-131 occurred as the result of atmospheric tests in Nevada. Although the Utah State Health Department reported iodine-131 concentrations in excess of 1000 picocuries iodine-131 per liter of milk for about a week (37 Bq), the equivalent daily intake for a year for the population in the milkshed would have been 103 picocuries iodine-131 per liter (3.8Bq). Milk from individual farms or from individual cows could, of course, be higher or lower than the measured average for the station.

Dang, I like milk :( :( :( (wait, in the "milkshed"?)