The world has seen more than 500 nukes being detonated in the atmosphere by several nations across years. Many of which were tests, showcases of power to rival nations, and standing evidence of the mastery levels of bomb science, defense, and technology by countries like the US, Russia, France, etc.
Radioactive Honey
Unfortunately, the world’s supply of honey has come to suffering resulting from all this nuclear activity.
Research published in an open-access journal Nature Communications shows that the honey produced in the United States contains Bomb 137 C’s, which is a fission product that gets dispersed resulting from 20th-century nuclear testing.
These C’s have a long-shelf-life of about 30 years and was found as fallouts in American honey. Some of this fallout dates decades back, as far as the 1950s.
Process of the Study
The opportunity for conducting this study came through when James Kaste, a geologist at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia found high levels of radiocesium, a radioactive element, in honey samples collected by one of his students for a class assignment.
The cesium levels in honey from North Carolina were 100 times higher than other food samples collected by other students. This led Kaste to wonder whether bees in this region were collecting nectar and turning it into honey while concentrating cesium levels.
This led Kaste along with his colleagues and a student to undertake a study to further analyze the situation. For the study, the researchers collected samples of honey and soil from more than 110 locations across the eastern United States.
The Findings
After careful analysis, the researchers found that both the soil and honey held high levels of radiocesium. The reason being this particular element has a long shelf life which makes it remain in the environment much longer than other radiation produced from detonation which starts decaying within the first few days.
The Chernobyl Nuclear disaster which occurred in 1986 in Ukrainian SSR had affected the European pollen and honey according to studies held after the incident providing enough knowledge to researchers that many believe it is safe to consume the honey.
This conclusion is mainly based on the fact that the observed levels of cesium in honey are below the regulatory levels maintained by many countries in food specifications, therefore not harmful for human consumption.
Nuclear Detonation and Its Lingering Effects
What is surprising is how widespread the residual radiation is as well as how long it has stayed in the environment.
The majority of the atmospheric nuclear tests and detonation by the US were conducted in the Marshall Islands and American South-West. The residue or fallout from these tests has spread and settled across the planet.
The study was able to find out that the Eastern United States had received a comparatively higher level of fallout than other regions from nuclear testing conducted in the 1950s and 1960s, despite the testing locations being relatively far.
A contributing factor could be the wind patterns, precipitation, and other climatic influences.
Much of the elements in the fallout decayed and disappeared quickly over the years, while cesium, which does not dissipate so easily, got absorbed into the soil and used by plants mistakenly due to its striking similar structure that resembles potassium, a vital nutrient for plants.
This large amount of absorption of cesium by plants could have led to its traces being found in the honey that is produced by bees.The study was also able to discover that there is an inverse relationship between the levels of natural potassium in soil and the amount of nuclear fallout present in honey.
The soil of the southern states in the US is less rich in potassium while the honey of this region contained three times the amount of nuclear fallout while the northern states which have richer potassium levels in soil saw a lesser amount of fallout in honey.
Concerns for the Environment
The troubling issue is that while this honey might be safe for human consumption, its producers, the honeybee might not be very safe during the process of handling this honey.
Honeybees, being a vital part of our ecosystem might get severely affected by the radiation doses they encounter as several studies have shown that insects can suffer significantly from small doses of radiation, though its threshold has been debated.
Most of the nuclear powers of the world have come together and formed peace treaties and agreements bringing nuclear testing, detonations, production, and inventory under control, like the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, START, NPT, and much more.
But there are still consequences that the environment and subsequently we are dealing with from nuclear detonations decades ago, pointing out the deadliness of this technology on life.
Written by - Sreya Sara Binoy
Edited by - Akanksha Sharma
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