Got Milk? If You Do — You Also Have Radiation.
Did you know that we test milk for radioactive decay — because I didn’t!
Why milk? Why not potatoes or raspberries? Great question! It’s because milk is nature’s perfect radioactive delivery system — unfortunately.
You Drink Radioactive Milk (unless you’re lactose intolerant like me)
Milk is something you generally ingest — unless you’re some weirdo who bathes in milk, then I guess you’re good. For radionuclides to do the most damage to you, ingestion is best. An external dusting of radionuclides is definitely not healthy, but for long-term damage to precious vital organs — there’s no substitute for actually munching on some radioactive material.
Radioactive Milk Is Made Quickly
Milk is produced quickly by the cow, and therefore any radioactive materials the cow may have come across in the last 24–48hrs will be dumped into its milk supply. Generally, radioactive fallout will dust the pastures that cows graze on, and within a day or two of eating that grass — the cow’s milk contains that radioactive dust. Yum!
Because the milk is made so quickly by the cow after ingestion of the radioactive materials, it doesn’t have time to decay. This means that by the time it gets to the consumer — there could still be enough radioactive material in there to do some damage!
Radioactive Milk Is Good At Being Radioactive
Milk does a great job at delivering many different radioactive compounds. The three that scientists focus on are iodine-131, cesium-134/137, and strontium-90.
Iodine-131 is a byproduct of uranium fission. Iodine happens to be critical to the functioning of the thyroid gland, so any iodine-131 that gets consumed will be stored in the thyroid. This can cause issues with the proper functioning of your thyroid and could potentially lead to cancer later on in life.
Cesium-134/137, or simply radioactive cesium, does a great job of mimicking potassium. Potassium is readily absorbed by our bodies and is needed for the proper function of nerves and muscles. Once radioactive cesium is in your body and your body believes it to be potassium, you’re going to have some nerve and muscle problems.
Strontium-90 is much more hazardous to children than fully grown adults because strontium-90 tends to be incorporated into growing bones. It also has a very long half-life — 29 years, to be exact. So once that guy makes its home in your bones, it’ll be there for a hot second.
Why In The World Did We Start Testing for Radioactivity In Milk?
While incidents like the Chernobyl Accident of 1986, the Fukushima reactors in Japan, and other unpredictable tragedies played an obvious role in creating nuclear fallout that rained down from the heavens — other incidents also contributed to the radioactive rain and dust that covered the United States landscape that people tend to forget.
There have been a total of 1,030 nuclear tests done on American soil since the invention of nuclear devices. 215 of those tests were atmospheric tests — which are the ones dropping radioactive dust and rain onto our soil. 815 of those tests were done underground — which has now contaminated the crap out of our groundwater, but that’s an issue for another day.
Worldwide, there have been around 2,056 (528 Atmospheric; 1,528 Underground) total nuclear tests done. Just because a test is done in China doesn’t mean the consequences of the nuclear fallout remain in China. On the contrary, the entire world feels the consequences. The closer you are the worse the consequences, but no one is sitting at zero nuclear fallout.
We started testing our milk when children began to send in their teeth to a program (“Baby Tooth Survey”) that wanted to test their tiny teeth for strontium-90. The levels of strontium-90 in children’s teeth were so concerning, that it ultimately led John F. Kennedy to sign a treaty banning all types of above-ground nuclear tests. Remember, strontium-90 is stored in bones — increased levels of strontium-90 caused increased rates in cancer of the bone, bone marrow, and the soft tissues around the bone.
Should I Stop Drinking Milk
Honestly, in my opinion, milk is nasty. Don’t drink it. Drink something more environmentally friendly — like oat milk. But hey, let’s say you just can’t stop chugging glasses of cow’s milk — should you be concerned?
While back in the day there were some pretty concerning levels of radioactive materials in milk, currently the levels are fairly low. This is due to a lack of current nuclear fallout (no crazy nuclear accidents and the signed treaty against atmospheric nuclear tests), as well as the fact that many of the previously distributed radioactive materials have been given enough time to decay (or at least partially decay).
In reality, you are exposed to radiation constantly. It’s in everything, on everything, and basically everywhere. You can’t avoid it at this point. Whether it is naturally occurring or man-made — it’s there. Bananas are naturally radioactive and one of the top ten most radioactive foods you can ingest — bet you didn’t know that!
In summary, we test cows’ milk for radiation, because milk is a good indicator for radioactive fallout that is caused by humans wanting to watch things go boom — but don’t worry, drink milk (I promise I am not a milk lobbyist and I am not sponsored by milk companies)! It’s safe!
Just know that there is always a teeny tiny bit of radiation floating around in your milk. Maybe it adds to the flavor?
If you like what you read — please follow and subscribe to get an email when I publish so you can always stay up-to-date on my content! :)
Buy me Ko-Fi :) ❤
