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Wednesday, February 2, 2000
Experts say high radioactive cesium levels no threat to local population By Ivan Remias "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
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