Trace amounts of radioactive iodine from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have now been detected in the air and rainwater in New York State. But don't start hoarding; the state Department of Health insists that there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about, because the radiation levels are extremely low. Yesterday State Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah called for calm, issuing this statement from an undisclosed location in Albany (where he presumably has access to an unlimited supply of lead-lined underwear):
New York continues to have safe public drinking water supplies. Our most recent testing has detected extremely low levels of radioactive iodine in the air. We use sophisticated equipment that can detect minute amounts of radiation. We continue to advise New Yorkers that they do not need to take any precautions because of the radioactive emissions from Japan's nuclear plants.
Dr. Shah added that exposure to this level of radiation is thousands of times lower than common medical imaging procedures, such as chest X-rays. But if you're one of those diehard skeptics who thinks the government has some reason to deceive a jittery public, you can monitor the radiation monitoring yourself, from the comfort from your isolated survivalist shack: the EPA's RadNet website is publicly sharing the results of radiation testing nationwide. Right now they say radiation levels in NYC are "thousands of times below any conservative level of concern."
"This tiny, tiny, tiny amount doesn’t really pose any risk. Again, the question is, will things get worse?" Dr. Timothy Button of Stony Brook University Medical Center’s Department of Radiation tells CBS 2. "The real concern is large scale releases of U235 and plutonium. You want to keep those locked up. You certainly don’t want those let out into the environment." At Fukushima, workers are still struggling to contain radiation leaking from the damaged plant, and record high readings of contaminated sea water have been detected nearby. The latest, according to Bloomberg, is that the U.S. has given the plant robots "impervious to radiation," and Japan is considering entombing the whole damn thing.
