Iodine 131 found in AZ Milk

Apparently, recent tests of milk samples in Arizona have detected higher concentrations of radioactive Iodine 131. As usual, residents of Arizona are told not to worry, that these levels are far below the FDA's threshold of action. This test did not include information about any other radioactive isotopes.

The FDA's allowable level of all (total dose in a sample) radioactive isotopes in drinking water is higher than the EPA's; it allows for 1 theoretical cancer death in 4,400 people. Who will it be? Someone's 10 year old daughter? A beloved elder? A breastfeeding mother of 2 children? A man who grows food for his neighbors?

Officially, radioactive iodine is regularly dismissed as a threat because of its relatively short half-life outside of the body; it takes about 40 days to decay to almost nothing. But this is not necessarily how it acts inside the body. It takes much longer to be completely excreted, and it does its damage effectively before it can be excreted. Take the time to read all the answers on that link - it's very informative.

Milk is tested by the EPA in samples from grocery stores. This milk is not necessarily milk from cows who live in the state tested - where do the cows that produced that milk in Arizona live and eat? Because those cows may not be eating grass, what is the source of their radioactive contamination? Their feed? Their water?

The assumption that our food is safe because we don't know or because the EPA and FDA say so is not enough for me. Do not assume you will be informed if there is actual risk and danger, especially if you have small growing children whose bodies rapidly grow bones and muscle. Actual risk from radiation, as determined by the EPA and FDA, is very tolerant. As members of a world saturated with radiation from accidents, disasters, medical waste, nuclear power waste, and other sources, it is horrible to me that any dose is considered acceptable when the evidence shows any exposure at any level is not safe. As I've said before, radiation accumulates in the body with every dose. We are all, at this point, exposed to everything at levels we'll never be informed about accurately.

Do the research, don't take my word for it.

Since I can't escape what's in the air, I continue to grow my food, forage locally, and buy my dairy and produce as locally as I can; avoid the worst and hope for the best. I will continue my deep love affair with the wild things and offer myself to the impartial love that is survival and community; I will continue to recklessly believe that the risks of being alive are as powerful as the risks of making life.