New Research Reveals Traces of Radioactive Fallout in American Honey

  • 3 years ago
New Research Reveals Traces of
Radioactive Fallout in American Honey.
The College of William & Mary conducted
a study in 2020 and discovered a
radioactive isotope in American honey.
The isotope in question, cesium-137, is a byproduct
of uranium and plutonium nuclear fission. .
According to lead researcher Jim Kaste,
nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s coated the
atmosphere in isotopes, including cesium-137. .
There was a period in which we
tested hundreds of nuclear weapons
in the atmosphere … What that did
was put a blanket of these isotopes
into the environment during a very
narrow time window, Jim Kaste, via Science Alert.
Because of this, cesium-137 can be
found in a number of food sources. .
But Kaste was surprised to discover that honey
registered “100 times hotter” than other foods. .
Through his research, Kaste found that
honey samples from areas with low-potassium soil
were more likely to be rich in cesium-137. .
The lack of potassium leads plants to take up
cesium-137 instead and express it in their nectar,
which bees then collect to make honey.
Thankfully, the levels of radiation Kaste measured in
honey, even at its highest, fell below harmful levels

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