Radiation Dose Chart

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Did anyone notice that early wire reports of Japan's nuclear problems slid in an incidental line to the effect of "most children who drank commercially available milk during cold-war era nuclear testing were exposed to radiation from that source"? That caught my eye, and I did a little research. Learned some horrifying things, not only about how thoroughly our food chain was contaminated, but also how many Americans were directly exposed to fallout. I grew up in Eastern Kentucky, and according to government sources--not online wackery--I was exposed to what a nuclear worker today is permitted as max exposure in one year. Problem there is that I was an infant when it happened. No wonder I'm weird! Margie

Yeah, it seems they were pretty cavalier about radiation safety in the early Cold War era, and not just the government. This may be exhibit A:

More info about the nuclear version of a kid's chemistry set

I've also heard of things like high school science projects from that time that fell under the lines of "Let's expose corn to radiation and see if we can grow mutated plants!" Probably a consequence of the long term dangers of radiation not being well understood.

But a lot of kids who are better educated now than those who aren't allowed to do science with anything more dangerous than a rubber band.

Very true - science is a lot more fun when you add mayhem to it.

Found a link to even crazier uses of radiation - in the 1920s, some people, instead of trying to avoid radon, bought jars for adding it to their drinking water. The things people believed about radiation back then... wait... looks like they're still making things like that. And here's a car related bit of radiation lunacy too.

I remember buying a watch because the dial had radium to glow in the dark. But I also remember 'fun with mercury"science class-making dimes and quarters real shiny and slippery and chasing globs of mercury on the lab table. No wonder when I hear the air raid sirens being tested, I dump my bike and curl up against the curb. Duck and cover!

Keith wrote: But a lot of kids who are better educated now than those who aren't allowed to do science with anything more dangerous than a rubber band.

i think the rubber band got taken away about 10 years ago when one kid hurt another kid's feelings by saying that she had too many cooties. he was holding a rubber band at the time, so they banned them.

Rubber band use now requires individual permission from the Education Board, and teachers must undergo rubber band related first aid training. I think there's also a stretch limit in place.

But seriously, I was pleasantly surprised with the dangerous E36 M3 they let us play with in Chemistry labs. Granted, this is at a University level.

Duke wrote: No wonder we're still hooked through the bag by oil and coal consumption for power generation. Modern nuclear power could fill the gap until truly viable renewable sources can be developed, but no! Won't somebody think of the children?!

I feel bad, but only to an extent. I have come to the conclusion that people just want new things to complain about. The more irrational the fear is, the easier it is to mystify and stoke up. Sure, we hear about people dying on the highway, and record levels of diabetes in the US, but that doesn't stop most people from talking on the phone in the car or eating a box of Little Debbies each day. For the news sources, these people are easy pickins.

minimac wrote: I remember buying a watch because the dial had radium to glow in the dark.

I was watching a show about radium and what it was used in. They talked about the women the would paint the radium on watch faces and when they would need to make the brush into a point again, they would lick it. Well many of those women died from complicated cancers and such.

Makes you wonder.