Thread: Legitimate Knowledge In The Digital Age.

Originally Posted by -Lazarus-

Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk - Forbes

The problem is that the source of the radiation reported here has not been contained and probably can't be. This isn't the same thing as a nuclear test for example. So levels will continue to grow. In response to this, the EPA is planning to simply increase their recommended maximum exposure levels for most of the isotopes. I suspect this is because there is little they can do. If the cooling pools at reactor 4 lose their water level, the problem gets much, much worse.

The point is that the Japanese government and the US government are covering many of the facts relating to the disaster up. This was all I was trying to say in my post. In reference to this discussion, it would be quite easy to post what the Japanese and US governments are saying and cite their sources, when they may not be the best sources of information because of a vested interest not to tell us what is happening.

The EPA's plan to alter radiation levels started was from 2009, and I don't think it ever happened. I see no evidence of what you say being true, and it's certainly not in the article you posted.

I assume you were trying to bring up this information:
the data released Friday, iodine-131 was found in rainwater samples from the following locations:

Salt Lake City, UT collected 3/17: 8.1
Boston, MA collected 3/22: 92
Montgomery, Alabama collected 3/30: 3.7
Boise, ID collected 3/27: 390

This is above the value of 3 that is acceptable for drinking water. Yet, this is rainwater, and all drinking water levels are below the value of 3. I also don't see anything about what baseline levels were before this.

Alternatively, you may be confused about the difference between the EPA and FDA which have different limits. The FDA sets much higher limits, but their limits are associated with a single dose. The FDA allows 2 cancer deaths per 10,000. The EPA has much lower limits which assume 1 additional death per million over 70 years if people continually consume water at that dosage level. The levels in drinking water are all much below the value of 3. There were a few milk samples found that were approximately 3, but these were outliers.

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

The FDA's rules are largely set by industry leaders. The EPA is the one to listen too. /tinfoil

The EPA levels are probably excessively safe, and we only a couple values marginally passed the limit temporarily. The values that they talk about are for constant level over 70 years.