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