It feels like the world is going to hell these days. We’re all on edge with murder hornets, natural disasters, pandemics, and the threat of world-destroying war. What happened to the good old days when all we had to worry about were things like rampant street crime and radiation? Well, fear not! It’s time to relax with a nerve-calming list of things you never realized were just a little bit radiating from you in your everyday life.
10. Brazil nuts
Brazil nuts may never reach the lofty heights of almonds or pecans in most people’s eyes, but they do contain some essential nutrients and can help balance blood sugar levels for diabetics. So that’s a good thing, right? On the other hand, if you eat too many of them, you’ll be exposed to relatively high levels of radiation, thanks to the nuts being full of radium.
Your average Brazil nut is about 1000 times more radioactive than anything else you're likely to eat. Sounds scary, but in context it doesn't really matter. If you eat a handful of them a day, you'll be fine. Just keep it within reason, as something like 50 nuts a day will become toxic.
The trees on which the Brazil nut grows have massive root system . They travel deep and far and are capable of absorbing large amounts of naturally occurring radium. Interestingly, the nuts are among the least dangerous parts of the tree, as the leaves and bark have even higher concentrations if you are ever tempted to eat another part of the tree.
9. Spark plugs
Spark plugs are something few of us ever think about until a mechanic tells us we need a new one. Then there's a brief moment of panic until you find out they cost about $20 and take a few minutes to replace, and then you go back to not caring about them. And that's a shame, because at least for a while, you could end up with radioactive spark plugs for no good reason.
Firestone once made spark plugs with polonium electrodes . Now you might be wondering, is polonium dangerous? Well, according to science, it is more toxic than hydrogen cyanide. How, right? More precisely, in 250 billion times more toxic. This is many times.
Polonium 210 has a half-life of about 138 days, so today all those spark plugs are inert, but hopefully the people who made them had some kind of protection in the factory.
The idea behind the plus was that perhaps the radiation would help improve performance , making it easier for the spark to cross the gap? It's hard to say for sure because the science doesn't really make sense, and that's one of several reasons you don't see these plugs on the market today.
8. Seagulls
Some people absolutely hate seagulls. They are some of the most cheeky birds in the world, and they can really ruin a day at the beach if you miss a snack or if they decide to circle overhead and make a mess of your place. On the other hand, they do a lot of good, keeping beaches clean. And, depending on where you live, they can also be radioactive.
On the Cumbrian coast in England you will find the Sellafield nuclear site with hundreds of units where a major disaster occurred in the 1950s. It is being decommissioned very slowly and is considered one of the the most polluted places throughout Europe.
Stray cats and mice were everywhere at Sellafield, but so were seagulls, and there are fears they are splashing around in plutonium pools and nuclear waste. Why does Sellafield have open pools of plutonium? Well, that's a good question. Let's move on.
Back in 2005, they were culling seagulls and kept them in the freezer on the spot. In 2014, photographs showed that they still floating in radioactive pools on the spot. Even in 2018 There have been reports of efforts being made to combat radiation damage to food sources in and around Sellafield, indicating ongoing efforts to control gulls in the area through culling and egg destruction.
7. Bananas
Everyone knows that if you want to increase your potassium levels, you should eat a banana, although in potatoes There's actually a lot more potassium, but that's not important. But maybe you don't want too many potatoes, because that potassium is what makes bananas slightly radioactive.
The specific culprit is potassium-40, natural isotope of potassium you'll find in a banana, which irradiates you a little bit with each delicious bite. Tiny, of course, is the key word here. You need to eat 1000 bananas to receive a dose of radiation equal to an X-ray. And because potassium is needed by our bodies to survive, it is naturally regulated, and barring illness, your body will never have more than you need, so radioactive potassium cannot accumulate.
6. Beaches of Guarapari
If you head to the southeast of Brazil, you'll find Espiritu Santo, home to the infamous Guarapari Beaches. Doctors once boasted of the health benefits of visiting the beach because healing properties mysterious sand. The sand was saturated with a mineral called monazite, and monazite was saturated with radioactive thorium.
Back in the 1970s, people were still willing to believe a doctor when they said radiation could cure your arthritis, so tourists flocked to beaches that were about as radioactive as a chest X-ray. Even though the tourism industry still buys into these ideas, no one is advised to stay on the beach for too long because of the gamma radiation, which they can absorb.
5. Toothpaste
Medicine has a long, unsettling relationship with radiation. There was a time when people were convinced that the more radiation they could get into their bodies, the better. There were radioactive tinctures and tonics and, yes, even toothpaste.
German Doramad toothpaste contained thorium. According to the label, this radiation will help increase protection your teeth and gums. The thorium used was extracted from monazite , the same sand that was taken from the Guarapari beach, and the toothpaste was produced by the same company.
The radiation levels were generally low, and it is unlikely that anyone was harmed by using the toothpaste. However, if you ever have the opportunity, please do not use radioactive toothpaste.
4. Wild boars
Wild boars in the USA cause damage every year approximately 1.5 billion dollars . It sounds terrible, but it may be better than the wild boar problem that people have to deal with in parts of Asia and Europe. The damage is great, but at least these wild pigs are not radioactive.
Wild boars are a popular source of meat in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, due to the Chernobyl disaster, boars are absorbing more and more radiation. When Chernobyl melted down, was emitted into the atmosphere many cesium-137 . Eventually, it settles in the Šumava mountains and in the soil. Eventually, the truffles absorb the radiation, and the wild boars hunt the truffles and eat them.
In Japan, after residents fled the Fukushima nuclear disaster, wild boars moved into the area and began breeding with escaped domestic pigs. This led to a large population radioactive pigs and boars effectively seized the territory and made it difficult for people to return.
As in Europe, the meat is a delicacy, but it is too dangerous to eat. In some samples, levels of cesium-137 are 300 times higher than safety standards.
3. Ceramics for the holidays
Have you ever heard of Fiestaware? It's a brand of glazed ceramic tableware that dates back to the 1930s. It's still in production today, and it's probably the most popular Chinese brand made in America.
Back in the 1930s, Fiestaware came in several colors that were part of the glazing process. Red Fiestaware was the most popular, but also the most expensive. This was because to achieve the red hue, added to the mixture uranium oxide . And that led to radioactive cookware. As with other radioactive materials at the time, there was no immediate risk because the levels were considered low. However, there is a difference between a radioactive spark plug and a salad bowl.
Over time, concerns arose that repeated use, particularly exposure to things like scratches from silverware and etching from acidic foods, could leach out radioactive compounds from glaze and getting them inside. And swallowing uranium is much worse than just holding it.
Eventually, the radioactive glaze was discontinued and replaced with something safer, but a large number of products were sold with it included.
2. US Capitol
Almost everything in the world is a little radioactive, and we've seen that sometimes that's not even worth worrying about. Everyone should still be able to enjoy bananas whenever they want. But as we've also seen, some things are just weirdly more radioactive than they should be. Or at least more radioactive than we expected.
The US Capitol building is one such example of something that is much more radioactive than you might think. It is made from granite , and this granite will not stand up to scrutiny today. This is because it contains large amount of uranium . Radiation levels in 65 times higher EPA standards. For some additional context: inside the Capitol, you will be exposed to radiation that is 550 times higher , than the fence of a nuclear power plant.
Again, this doesn't mean Congress is on the verge of turning into glowing green zombies, but it does mean a 0.5 percent increase in cancer risk.
1. Primo Flat Fix
New York City covers over 300 square miles and is home to nearly 9 million people. And in all that space, among all those people, there is one place that holds the dubious distinction of being the most radioactive place in all of New York City. And that is tire fitting .
Believe it or not, this takes us back to those beaches in Brazil and that radioactive Nazi-era toothpaste. You see, Primo's auto body shop is located where the chemical company Wolf-Alport . They used to do the same thing as the Germans with Brazilian sand or similar sand. They purified monazite to get rare earth metals, and in the process they got thorium and uranium as a byproduct.
Thorium was useful for a while, but not always. Before and after World War II, thorium was basically trash. They literally flushed it down the toilet or just buried it. During the war, it was useful for weapons, and that was important because the company ramped up production during that period. Then, when the need for it passed, Wolff-Alport had extra stockpiles that were useless. So they dumped it again. And dumped it right there.
Unlike some of the things we've mentioned, Primo is not in the "no big deal" zone. The EPA actually had to come out and install thick steel and iron plates over the lead in the ground to try to provide temporary protection from exposure.
Workers at the store are exposed to triple the safe dose of radiation every year, and the EPA is said to be planning to demolish the entire area.
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