Fukushima Fall Out reaches the West Coast

[xraytech]

So before you go out and stock pile Potassium Iodide Pills, here's a little bit of perspective.

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

 

[SactoGuy18]

But the radiation level is so small that you get a lot more radiation exposure from a single dental X-ray!

 

[Rt&Dzine]

There are 2 issues

• radiation
  
• radioactive isotopes such as iodine-131 and cesium 137

The Potassium Iodide pills only address Iodine-131. Also, if I remember correctly, they aren't usually recommended to those older than 40-something. It is children, young people, and pregnant women who would be most at risk.


Officials have confirmed that iodine has been found in some leafy vegetables above levels set by Japan.

 

[iJohnHenry]

You could spend the rest of your life watching this.

Or maybe Big Brother will take it down?

Or maybe it's disinformation?

 

[And1ss]

I love how that website says you get radiation from eating a banana. So funny.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Radiation come's off of cat litter.

 

[takao]

Officials have confirmed that iodine has been found in some leafy vegetables above levels set by Japan.

and milk afaik:
and those levels were exceeded quite massivly so i suspect the levels are rather low

another interesting radiation source: rain gutters, especially where they lead to the ground, have a easy to register higher radiation
even more so on buildings which were built prior to atmoshpheric nuclear weapon tests

 

[notjustjay]

I love how that website says you get radiation from eating a banana. So funny.

Yeah, it really puts things into perspective. I didn't realize it until I saw the poster, but it makes sense.

 

[Rt&Dzine]

Yeah, it really puts things into perspective. I didn't realize it until I saw the poster, but it makes sense.

Skewed perspective. The banana comparison is misleading.

The problem is that this system implies that all radioisotopes are created equal—That there's no difference between 520 picocuries of Potassium-40 and a similar intake of, say, radioactive iodine. And that simply isn't true. I contacted Geoff Meggitt—a retired health physicist, and former editor of the Journal of Radiological Protection—to find out more.

The Potassium-40 in bananas is a particularly poor model isotope to use, Meggitt says, because the potassium content of our bodies seems to be under homeostatic control. When you eat a banana, your body's level of Potassium-40 doesn't increase. You just get rid of some excess Potassium-40. The net dose of a banana is zero.

And that's the difference between a useful educational tool and propaganda. (And I say this as somebody who is emphatically not against nuclear energy.) Bananas aren't really going to give anyone "a more realistic assessment of actual risk", they're just going to further distort the picture. http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/27/bananas-are-radioact.html

 

[notjustjay]

Skewed perspective. The banana comparison is misleading.

Hmm. Fair enough. Thanks for the link.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Alex Jones did a lot on this http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel#p/u/0/aAabLYys72A

 

[arogge]

Maybe the radiation will cause some useful mutations in Apple hardware.

 

[cantthinkofone]

Alex Jones did a lot on this http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel#p/u/0/aAabLYys72A

That guy is just as nuts as Rush.

 

[iJohnHenry]

You could spend the rest of your life watching this.

Or maybe Big Brother will take it down?

Or maybe it's disinformation?

Mmmm, "Channel is offline".