"Irradiated boar tests unsettled Moravians"

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

FYI
posted at
http://www.praguepost.cz/news020200d.html
The Prague Post
Wednesday, February 2, 2000
Irradiated boar tests unsettled Moravians
Experts say high radioactive cesium levels no threat to local population
By Ivan Remias
For chef Vladimir Plainer, mad cows are a faint memory. But irradiated boar?
That hits closer to home.   "Once the story broke, game dishes sold much
worse," moans the man behind the restaurant at the Hotel Diana in
hunting-rich Velke Losiny, in north Moravia.   Although Plainer dropped boar
from his menu a year ago, he's far from happy about the radioactivity rumors
making the rounds. Tests conducted in December on residents of the city of
Sumperk revealed 14 cases of heightened cesium. Cesium is a radioactive
isotope usually associated with leakage from nuclear power plants. A massive
cesium presence can be carcinogenic.   The tests, conducted on hunters and
their families, came after local hygiene officials observed higher radiation
levels in boar during routine tests.   Experts have long blamed the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine for hiking cesium levels throughout
Europe.   'Not worrying'  "It's related to Chernobyl," says Libor Mrazek,
chief environmental specialist at the State Bureau for Nuclear Safety in
Ostrava. But the results, he insists, are not worrying.   Ctibor Babicka of
the Sumperk District Hygiene Center, which regulates regional environmental
issues, says his office "examined people who more or less regularly ate meat
from boar hunted in the area of Velke Losiny."   Urine samples showed cesium
levels 130 times higher than normal. Although the data seems shocking,
Babicka also insists no one is in danger.   "There's absolutely nothing to
worry about," Babicka contends. "The detected readings are fractions [more]
than the allowed rates."   "Seasonal foods," including game and mushrooms,
can sometimes yield levels thousands of times higher than those found in
Sumperk residents.   The State Radiation Protection Institute Ostrava will
evaluate the test results. Nonetheless, local authorities are assessing the
results to determine if restaurants and other catering facilities in the
region should stop serving boar.   Water studies  Radiation tests are also
being pursued at local public water facilities.   "The District State Office
has been notified about this case and now is preparing a comprehensive
report about it," office spokesman Pavel Taborsky says. "But there's no need
to take special steps in terms of protection."   Says Mrazek: "The doses
would reach dangerous rates only if people had eaten some five tons of
contaminated meat a year."   According to Mrazek, post-Chernobyl fallout
contained radioactive isotopes Cesium 134 and 137. Much of that 14-year-old
rain drenched Jeseniky, a mountain range surrounding the Sumperk district,
and Sumava, in south Bohemia.   "The latest case similar [to the Sumperk
boar] occurred in Sumava six years ago. Increased radiation was detected in
boar and deer in that area," Mrazek adds.   Mrazek says that mushrooms and
wild berries in both areas still contain radioactive elements. They are
expected to remain above normal levels for decades.   Mrazek's believes the
radiation was transmitted from edible plants and mosses to worms and other
in-ground species that flourish around Jeseniky. The food chain took it to
rodents and boar. Around 80 boars are killed for food annually in the Velke
Losiny area.   Jiri Sedlacek, deputy director at the Sumperk veterinarian
center, who monitors radiation in animals in the region, agrees. "Since one
third of the boars' nutrition consists of animal food, it is very likely
that the radiation occurred in them this way," Sedlacek concludes.    Ivan
Remias's e-mail address is iremias@praguepost.cz	
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html