Posted on 04/18/2012 4:23:33 PM PDT by ransomnote
Quoting the EPA:
How can cobalt-60 affect people’s health?
All ionizing radiation, including that of cobalt-60, is known to cause cancer. Therefore, exposures to gamma radiation from cobalt-60 result in an increased risk of cancer.
Because it emits such strong gamma rays, external exposure to cobalt-60 is also considered a significant threat.
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/cobalt.html#affecthealth
I think that the real issue here is cobalt-60 getting into the raw material/manufacturing chain. This time, it was probably diluted enough so that it wasn’t too bad. Next time, next place...maybe not. And this has happened several times already with some very bad results, and certainly, not all of those incidents have been reported or discovered. Things are pretty well controlled in the US. Elsewhere...not so much.
Ok, who’s got a pic of Baby Huey sitting in a bicycle basket?
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