Germany's radioactive boars a legacy of Chernobyl

[joeybee12]

BERLIN – For a look at just how long radioactivity can hang around, consider Germany's wild boars.

A quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union carried a cloud of radiation across Europe, these animals are radioactive enough that people are urged not to eat them. And the mushrooms the pigs dine on aren't fit for consumption either.

Germany's experience shows what could await Japan — if the problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant get any worse.

The German boars roam in forests nearly 950 miles (1,500 kilometers ) from Chernobyl. Yet, the amount of radioactive cesium-137 within their tissue often registers dozens of times beyond the recommended limit for consumption and thousands of times above normal.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_germany_radioactive_boars

[wtmusic]

1. 2% of the boars are above the legal limit.

"European officials insist that occasionally eating contaminated boar meat or mushrooms does not pose an immediate health risk. Public health agencies are typically conservative in setting limits for radioactivity in food."

Of course, no one would click if that was in the headline.

[joeybee12]

2. 25 years later they're still over the limit...nt

[wtmusic]

3. You'd think they'd all be dead. Or maybe not.

"Cesium can build up in the body and high levels are thought to be a risk for various other cancers. Still, researchers who studied Chernobyl could not find an increase in cancers that might be linked to cesium."

[CountAllVotes]

4. agree

I read that whole thing and then I saw the 2% figure. A headline yeah!
:puke:

:dem: