Published May 1963 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
From the office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25".D.C. Volume- III - Number 18 5-3-63 BYRD'S EYE VIEW A Public Service Column by SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD FALLOUT CONCERN LABELED FALSE ALARM BY HEALTH SERVICE Newspaper stories predicting a heavy atomic fallout in the Spring rains, as a result of atomic testing by the United States and Russia, have raised the question in many localities, "Are we in danger? Should we take precautions?" Some persons fear actual contact with the rain. Others will not allow their children to drink whole milk, the principal source of radioactive strontium and iodine. Those who have seen the recent report on Radiological Health Data issued by the U.S. Public Health Service may have been disturbed to note that West Virginia lies in a temporary "ridge of higher strontium-90 concentration." But careful analysis of the data shows that this State is in no actual danger and that local precautionary measures are unnecessary. Constant surveillance of radioactivity over the entire nation by the U.S. Public Health Service means that the Surgeon-General will be the first to know of any danger arising in any locality, Thus, any needed safety or protective measures would be initiated by State health officers. Brief radiological fluctuations are insignificant, since it is the total yearly absorption of radioactive particles, or “radionuclides”, that matters. Basic information for the Public Health Service comes from monthly sampling of the "radionuclide" intake in milk, which provides from 60 to 30 percent of the strontium-90 intake and almost all of the iodine-13l intake. During the 12-month period ending in January, 1963, West Virginians absorbed a total of 6,853 micromicrocuries. (A micromicrocurie is one millionth of one millionth of a "curie". A curie is the total radioactivity in one gram of radium.) The national average intake was slightly lower--4,997 micromicrocuries--but it ranged as high as 11,046 (in Louisiana). The acceptable dose of strontium-90 for a l2-month period is 73,000--more than ten times what we received in West Virginia. Our intake of iodine-131 for the year was 6,970 micromicrocurief while the national average was ll,863--nearly double. The safe yearly dosage of iodine-131 is 36,500, nearly six times the intake in West Virginia. Since iodine-l31 is a short1ived radionuclide (half of its radioactivity is spent in eight days, counter-measures are fairly simple, should the need arise. Milk can be refrigerated for a few weeks, or processed into powder or cheese, until the radioactivity fades away. Strontium-90 is considered the more dangerous radionuclide, because it is long lived, and because it may be absorbed into bone and bone marrow in place of calcium. Thus far, the amounts of strontium-90 being absorbed nationally are so insignificant that no counter-measures are being taken by the Public Health Service. But if the need should arise, the Health Service has in reserve such measures as control of soil conditions, removal of strontium-90 from milk by “ion exchange", and possibly the addition of stable calcium to diets. However great the potential threat from fallout may be, from increased testing or actual war, the present situation calls for no individual or local protective action, nor for any deviation from normal habits of living and eating, either for adults or children. The Surgeon-General urges that children _should not be taken off whole milk. Carry on as usual, is the word from Washington. - 30 -