JUNEAU, ALASKA 4.9
MONTANA
The milk samples for CU's
tests were bought in
these 50 localities.
The figures
represent the number of
strontium units found
in the samples from each
locality last summer. A
full list is given in chart
form on the facing page,
along with comparable
figures from other surveys
CU’s study—data and meaning
YOR reasons advanced on the preceding pages, strontium-90 assumes a degree of importance far out of
proportion to the seemingly small absolute amounts
involved. It is, in faet, generally agreed that strontium-90
presently constitutes one of the most serious potential
hazards attributable to fallout, and that milk is the primary
route by which it enters the bodies of most Americans.
The U.S. Public Health Service has been analyzing milk
(for strontium-90 and other radioactive isotopes) once
each month since 1957 in five geographic areas; this program was enlarged in 1958 to include 10 areas. Sample col-
lections for analyses are made on a single day of each
month from each area and represent a single group of
farms from the same production area. Because these sam-
ples do not include milk from other farms which contribute
a substantial part of the milk supply to consumers in most
of the areas covered, the samples do not necessarily represent the actual milk supply of a given population center.
The Atomic Energy Commission has reported on milk in
several U.S. cities, but it has covered only four of them
with any degree of thoroughness, Except for New York
City, samples examined by the AEC usually have been
powdered milks, which may not be typical of milks found
in the consumer market (a fact observed, in at least one
instance, by the AEC itself).
There have been other more limited studies of the strontium-90 content of milk. The University of Chicago, for ex308
MARCH [959
ample, has been closely monitoring the Chicago area, and
Columbia University’s Lamont Geological Observatory has
published data on powdered milks from selected areas of
the country. The New York State Department of Health
has monitored the strontium-90 content of powdered milk
from nine locations within 'the state.
CU’S PROGRAM
All of these studies have left largely undetermined and
unknown the strontium-90 content of the milk supply fo:
most segments of the population. CU’s study, reported herein, is the first to attack this problem on so large a scal
from the point of view of the consumer. Broad coverage o
consumer milk supplies on a more comprehensive nationa:
geographic basis than has heretofore been made was th:
prime objective of CU’s project. It was undertaken also t
provide an independent, non-government-sponsored chec!
of data released through official agencies, and to point ou
areas having milk with relatively high strontium-90 conten
which may merit further study by official agencies.
SAMPLING
CU’s milk samples were gathered from 48 cities scattere:
across the United States and from two in Canadaclose tthe U.S. border. Several considerations went into the sele
tion of these sites, Foremost of these was the requiremer