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To: 11th_VA; Blennos; yldstrk; blam
Half-life on I-131 is about 8 days ... I can live with that ...

Maybe not.

Milk goes from the cow to your store shelf in two to three days.

I-131 has a half-life of 8 days. Three half-lives in the general rule of thumb for an isotope to be decayed to a safe level from its initial level. So for I-131 that would be 24 days.

What the article does not say is that most milk cows in the US are fed on stored grain and hay which would not be exposed to rain fall.

So unless you are a person that drinks only organic pastured cow milk I would not be too worried.

25 posted on 04/05/2011 7:28:18 AM PDT by Pontiac
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To: Pontiac

Well, there’s also this:

These guys are saying there’s an activity of 20 Bq per liter.

Eating a banana involves 15 Bq. So, already we have no risk.

But then consider that unless all the Iodine 131 in a liter of water goes straight to the milk with none staying in the cow, in any of the equipment, etc., the Bq is going to be reduced further by the time the product reaches you.

They are using the term 181 times because it makes a shocking headline. There’s nothing here.


39 posted on 04/05/2011 8:03:50 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Anyone who says we need illegals to do the jobs Americans won't do has never watched "Dirty Jobs.")
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