half-lives in nature?
since the biological half-lives of i131 and cs137, etc., vary so wildly from "standard" textbook half-life, i was wondering if half-lives are the same in food-source animals (chickens, cows) as in humans. i was also wondering if the half-lives are different in plant life (grass, veggies).
thank you! for everything!
That's an outstanding question, Anonymous! [nt]
Rick.
I did find this: Health
I did find this:
Health Phys. 1989 Apr;56(4):459-64.
Cesium-137, 134Cs and 110mAg in lambs grazing pasture in NE Scotland contaminated by Chernobyl fallout.
Martin CJ, Heaton B, Thompson J.
Source
Department of Bio-Medical Physics and Bio-Engineering, Aberdeen University, Foresterhill, Scotland, UK.
Abstract
The decline in Cs radioisotope levels has been studied in tissues from lambs grazing lowland pasture. The lambs were slaughtered 18 and 115 d after contamination with Chernobyl fallout. During this time the Cs activity decreased to 13% of the initial amount in animals that had continued to graze contaminated pasture and to 3.5% in animals consuming uncontaminated feed. The 137Cs concentration in grass from the field grazed by the lambs decreased with a half-time of 22 d over the period 11-100 d after contamination. The amounts of Cs radionuclides removed from the pasture by the grazing animals amounted to only 0.01% of the total, the rest remaining in the soil, with over 40% in the upper 10 mm. Small amounts of 110mAg, found in grass, declined with a half-time of 8.9 d, and the radionuclide was found to accumulate in liver tissue.