FDA’s Comparison of Radiation in Milk to Everyday Exposures Called ‘Improper’

­A U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement regarding milk contaminated with radiation from Japan failed to accurately inform and educate the public, four watchdog groups and a former senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy said today, pointing to the fact that exposure to ingested iodine-131 is substantively different than everyday exposure to radiation in the environment.

On March 30, in response to reports that radioactive iodine-131 has been found in milk in Washington state, FDA senior scientist Patricia Hansen said, “Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a miniscule amount compared to what people experience every day. For example, a person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round trip cross country flight, watching television, and even from construction materials.”

This statement was called improper by experts at Beyond Nuclear, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and Nuclear Information and Resource Service, as well as by Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy during the Clinton Administration.  Read the full press release.