Search

90 Sr and 137 Cs were determined in the milks of the following mammals: Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goat, caribou, husky, beluga whale, fin whale, polar bear and human (Eskimo). The 90 Sr values ranged between 89.8 pCi/g ash for caribou milk to 0.1 pCi/g ash for fin whale milk. The 137 Cs concentrations ranged between 510.9 pCi/g ash for the milk of inland Eskimos to 0.9 pCi/g ash for the milk of mountain goat.

Sixty samples of human milk, 18 of bovine milk, 15 of reindeer milk, 1 of reindeer meat, and different lichens, all collected in Finland, were analyzed for 90 Sr, and 137 Cs. Reindeer milk contained the most 90 Sr, being 119 pCi per liter. Only 5 samples of human milk had detectable amounts of 90 Sr and 4 came from north of Oulu. Human milk from north and south of Oulu contained 114 and 19.7 pCi per liter of 137 Cs whereas bovine milk from the same regions contained 125 and 84 pCi per liter of 137 Cs. Reindeer milk from Lapland contained 1,647 pCi per liter of 137 Cs which is 13 to 14 times more than that of human and bovine milk from the same area. A specimen of dried reindeer meat contained per kilogram, 237 pCi of 90 Sr and 76,124 pCi of 137 Cs. A sample of lichen, Cladonia species, contained 1,361 pCi of 90 Sr and 21,173 pCi of 137 Cs per kilogram.

Strontium-90 and cesium-137 were determined in 40 samples of human milk obtained from 21 different communities in Alaska, as well as in polar bear, dall sheep, and harp seal milk. The average cesium-137 content (pCi per gram of ash) of all samples of human milk collected in Alaska in 1968 was only 3.3% of the average value for all samples of human milk collected in the Northwest Territories in 1967. The average strontium-90 content of the same Alaskan milks was about 10% higher than that of the human milk collected in the Northwest Territories.