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Radionuclides in Milk and Milk Products

Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Iowa State University, Ames

ABSTRACT

It is clear that milk and milk products serve as major routes of radionuclide contamination in man, particularly in children. Isotopes which are considered to be most hazardous in milk include I¹³¹, Sr⁹⁰, Ba¹⁴⁰, and Cs¹³⁷. Radioactive iodine accumulates in the thyroid, Cs¹³⁷ is found mostly in muscle and can cause cell damage (including genetic damage), and Sr⁹⁰ and Ba¹⁴⁰ collect in the bone, where they may cause bone disease. Thus, these radionuclides are potentially hazardous through internal irradiation.

Since milk is so widely consumed in this country, analyses for radionuclides have been numerous. Several reports (1, 2, 4), covering periods following atomic explosions, have demonstrated wide differences in levels of radionuclides. A recent study (3), including milk from cows in Utah, Minnesota, and Iowa, has shown that I¹³¹ levels up to 710 picocuries (pc) per liter occur in cows on pasture, whereas those on stored feed had levels less than 60 pc per liter.