Tokyo: Small amounts of radioactive iodine found in breast milk

[flamingdem]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86719.html


A citizen's group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.

Of the samples provided by the four women, the breast milk of the mother of an 8-month-old baby in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, contained the highest level of 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram, but no radioactive cesium was found, the group said.

The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan has not set safety levels for radioactive substances in breast milk, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. But the reading was below the safety limit of 100 becquerels per kg for tap water consumption by infants under 1 year old.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Wow...that fast, eh?

Really not good implications.

[FBaggins]

2. Why is that fast?

Iodine has a pretty short half-life... and it doesn't take long for iodine to show up in mom's milk. Many have to supplement to keep their level up (not of the radioactive stuff of course). Five weeks after the peak levels in the environment isn't particularly fast.

I'd guess that mom wasn't directly exposed but had a dietary intake from something she consumed in the last couple weeks. The level isn't high enough to be a concern, but probably indicates that whatever mom ate/drank was at least above the reported safety standards (which are themselves set incredibly low).

[flamingdem]

3. Japanese have their levels way up due to eating kelp and fish

It's the USA where levels are way down and we're told not to eat salt.

Be careful blaming the victim as you did and dismissing this horrible situation

Would you want your family exposed to that?

No you would not no matter what you claim

[FBaggins]

4. You mean of iodine in general?

Be careful blaming the victim as you did and dismissing this horrible situation

Blaming the victim?

Boy... you misread just about everything, don't you? I wasn't "blaming" anyone... I was giving it as evidence that dietary intake of iodine ends up in breast milk very quickly... so this isn't particularly "early" to be finding this. In fact, it's pretty late. The amount of radioiodine in the environment is WAY down from a few weeks ago.

Would you want your family exposed to that?

To the levels reported here? Those are well below the things that my family is exposed to anyway. I wouldn't go out of my way to find the stuff, but I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if I found out that it had happened.

There's nobody to "blame" here because nothing has happened worthy of blame (IOW, there isn't a "victim"). If the water level in Tokyo was at this level all year long, it would still pass their very tight standards for infant consumption.

Frankly, it's ridiculous that you would call it a "horrible situation" as if mom/baby was at great risk.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I would not want my baby to be ingesting radioactive iodine

that has NO safe levels set ( per the story).

[FBaggins]

6. Did you read the story?

There are "no safe levels set" for breast milk because the government has no role in regulating breast milk (or ability - can you imagine the process)?

But they DO set a safety level for water, and infants that don't nurse get their formula mixed with that water... so the levels would be the same. Even those very conservative numbers are set at roughly three times this level and they assume regular consumption all year long (which won't come close to happening in this case).

[Nihil]

8. Let's hope that the TSA don't read that story ...

> There are "no safe levels set" for breast milk because the government
> has no role in regulating breast milk (or ability - can you imagine the process)?

... given their past & current record in "investigating" ...?

:wow:

[FBaggins]

9. lol

Nice to get a smile in times of bad news.

[Fledermaus]

7. It got into the drinking water. Thats why every body was making a run on bottled water.

There is still the problem of Chernobyl radiation entering the water table. Without something to cover it, it will eventually leach into the water table. When it does, it will poison well water for thousands of years.

[FBaggins]

10. Read the story again Fledermaus. This is radioiodine we're talking about.

Half life of eight days.

It won't be poisoning anything for tens of months... let along tens of thousands of years.

Iodine levels in their drinking water blipped very slightly above their infant safety level for a couple days about a month ago. They dropped back down very rapidly.

[Fledermaus]

11. Read my post again Frodo.

When Chernobyls radiation leaches into the water tabe, it will be contaminated for thousands of years.

Yes, when it does. Not if it does.

[FBaggins]

12. Chernobyl's radiation has been in the water in that part of the wortl for decades

What on earth does it have to do with this event or the OP?

You said "it" got into the drinking water. The "it" we're talking about is radioiodine. "It" most certainly will NOT impact Japan for so many years. "It" is already mostly gone.

[FBaggins]

13. Re: "'It' is already mostly gone"

Not much more than a week later and they've expanded the sample (including some who lived far closer to the plant) -

The health ministry said the same day its survey of breast milk on 23 women in Tokyo and four prefectures, including Fukushima and its neighboring Ibaraki, found 2.2 to 8.0 becquerels of radioactive substances per kilogram in seven of them but that the amounts pose no health risks to their babies.

Of the seven, 3.5 becquerels of iodine and 2.4 becquerels of cesium were detected in milk taken from one who lived within 30 kilometers from the nuclear plant until March 14 after the March 11 quake and tsunami triggered the crisis there. The others live in Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110501p2g00m0dm011000c.html