FALL-OUT FROM A-BOMBS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 19

FALL-OUT FROM A-BOMBS

N.Z. Not In Maximum Zone Results of world-wide measurements of the distribution of Strontium 90 from atom bomb explosion fall-out show that New Zealand is not in the zone of maximum fall-out. This information is given by Mr H. Yeabsley. A cting-Director of the Dominion X-ray and Radium Laboratory, in reply to a letter to the editor by Mr Gordon Tait, who asked what quantitative variation in the amount of Strontium 90 had occurred since the first nuclear detonation. Mr Tait’s letter was a follows: “Your cable news of the incidence, among children of under four years of age in the United States, of substances which can produce leukaemia and bone cancer is most disquieting to one who has children in that age group here in Christchurch, which, we are told, is in an area of maximum fall-out. Surely it is time we had some facts on the position here. Would you let me know: is there any Strontium 90 in our meat and vegetables here in New Zealand: if so, what quantitative variation (if any) has occurred since the first nuclear detonation?” Constant Measuring “As a result of the atom bomb tests there is stored high in the atmosphere quantities of ‘artificial’ radioactive materials.” says Mr Yeabsley. “These gradually fall to earth and add to the natural radioactivity which has always been present in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. “It appears at present that the most potentially dangerous component of the fall-out is the isotope known as Strontium 90 World-wide measurements are continually being made on the distribution of this element. The results show that we are not the zone of maximum fall-out. The accumulated amount of Strontium 90 a square mile in the temperate countries of the Northern Hemisphere is about four times as great as that in New Zealand. “Radiation experts are of the opinion that it would be quite safe to increase the exposure to human bone to several times the level it receives from natural radioactive materials. If no further bomb testing is carried out then our children will receive only a fractional increase on this natural level. If the testing were continued at the average past rate then eventually ‘after several decades) the total bone exposure may be about two or three times the natural dose.”