New Research Reveals Traces of Radioactive Fallout in American Honey.
The College of William & Mary conducted a study in 2020 and discovered a radioactive isotope in American honey.
The isotope in question, cesium-137, is a byproduct of uranium and plutonium nuclear fission.
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According to lead researcher Jim Kaste, nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s coated the atmosphere in isotopes, including cesium-137.
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There was a period in which we tested hundreds of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere … What that did was put a blanket of these isotopes into the environment during a very narrow time window, Jim Kaste, via Science Alert.
Because of this, cesium-137 can be found in a number of food sources.
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But Kaste was surprised to discover that honey registered “100 times hotter” than other foods.
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Through his research, Kaste found that honey samples from areas with low-potassium soil were more likely to be rich in cesium-137.
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The lack of potassium leads plants to take up cesium-137 instead and express it in their nectar, which bees then collect to make honey.
Thankfully, the levels of radiation Kaste measured in honey, even at its highest, fell below harmful levels
