Remember the acid rain scares of the 1970s and 80s I do, and I remember all the news stories of Canada blaming the U.S. and the U.S. blaming Canada when it came to answering questions about acid rain. It turned out acid rain was no big deal. It occurs when fossil fuels and emissions mixed with the gases in the atmosphere and were released when it rained.
Now, "Houston we have a bigger problem" and its called radiation rain. Radiation rain has been found in drops of rain that fell in New England, and the radiation can be traced directly back to Japan. This problem could get worse and the nuclear plant in Japan damaged by the earthquake is still releasing radiation into the atmosphere.
Massachusetts Public Health officials say the radiation level found in the rain water is too small to be a health threat to those who drink it. They will however, have to monitor the states drinking water supply on a daily basis.
How was this radiation able to get to the United States so quickly and what can be done at this point John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health says nothing can be done right now, and Americans should just go on living their lives. Apparently, weather currents blew the radioactive chemicals quickly to parts of North America. The other good news to consider is the radioactive elements only have a shelf-life of about eight days.
Signs point to the situation getting better before it gets any worse. Scientists say there is no way to predict where in the U.S. radioactive particles may land next.
So far, states in the West, including California, Washington and Nevada, as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida have all detected radiation from Japan in rain drops. More is on the way, and we need to make sure our water supply remains safe.
Source: Apec-vc
