MOE ARCHIVES
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
pret these data in terms of strontium 90 concentrations in the stratosphere. Moreover, there
are considerable variations in the data from one sample to another, which have not yet been
accounted for on meteorological grounds.
Foreign Food Collection
The results of analysis for strontium and calcium of the food samples from the Philippine Islands, Turkey, and Libya collected by nutrition teams of the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense are given in Table 2.
Table 2—-Summary of Foreign Food Analyses
Location
Weight of
ash of
Weight of
calcium
Total strontium 90
in disintegrations
Strontium units
(micromicrocuries
(foods collected)
in grams
in grams
per sample
calcium)
date
sample
in sample
per minute
per gram of
(Range of values)*
Ankara, Turkey
April-June 1957
(wheat, wheat products,
0.6 to 25
.0.07 to
0.65
~less than 0.4
to 5.0
1 to 5
0.06 to
0.9
0.004 to
0.06
less than 0.4
to 0.8
4to 12
less than
about 0.10
1.0 to 6.5
T
beans, milk products)
Philippine Islands
February —March 1957
(legumes, cereals,
vegetables, fruit, meat,
fish, eggs, coconut,
rice, evaporated milk)
Libya
June-July 1957
(meat, fish, bread,
vegetables, cereal,
evaporated milk)
*The limits of the ranges of values given do not correspond to the same sample in each case.
+ Data inadequate to convert to strontium units. The minimum range of values would be 5-29
strontium units (calcium content assumed to be 0.10, the maximum value given); if the calcium content
is lower, the range would be higher.
The following values for United States foods may be used for comparison with the values
given in Table 2:
1, Determinations by Dr. J. L. Kulp, Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia
University.*
Vegetables average 9.4 strontium units, with a range of 1—29 strontium units,
coast to coast.
Cereals average 13.5 strontium units, with a range of 4-23 strontium units.
Milk, liquid and powdered, averaged 6 strontium units in 1957, with a range of
3—10 strontium units.
*Taken from the manuscript, ‘‘Current Strontium 90 Level in United States Diet.”
38
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