THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF RADIOACTIVITY AHBAD
The atomic age which President Truman opened for humanity on August 6 and August 9, 1945, by wiping out two crowded cities, has already led to permanent alteration of the environment of the'world, writes science specialist Walter Sullivan in the August 10 New York Times,
"Even if there are:no more bomb tests -- which seems unlikely -~ the radioactivity of carbon in the air, the oceans and all living matter will remain twice that of normal for a prolonged period. It will not sink to its pre-bomb level for thousands of years,"
The ground level of strontium 90 is still rising. This is because much of the fallout was injected into the stratosphere from. which it has been slowly d>ifting down. "This reservoir is believed largely to have been drained by now, but a considerable amount of the estimated total of bomb~produc ed strontium is unaccounted for."
Strontium 90 is especially important “because it is picked up by the body and incorporated into bones and teeth." It is a cause | of cancers. :
the bomb material falls on fields, is eaten by cows and can reach the consumer within days, after an explosion." Since the carrier is milk, it is especially dangerous to infants.
However, while the ground level of strontium 90 is still rising says Sullivan, it is believed that "the level in milk hit its peak in the spring of 1964,"
This comforting assurance may nevertheless need read justment if Johnson succeeds in carrying forward his "escalation" in Vietnam to its logical outcome.