IFAS NEWS: Radioactive Mussels Discovered In Round Lake Near Tampa
IFAS NEWS: Radioactive Mussels Discovered In Round Lake Near Tampa: "09.21.2000 Radioactive Mussels Discovered In Round Lake Near Tampa
By: Ed Hunter (352) 392-1773 x 278
Source(s): Mark Brenner (352) 392-9617 ext. 232
Doug Leeper (352) 796-7211
TAMPA --- Freshwater mussels in at least one west central Florida lake -- and perhaps several others -- may contain elevated amounts of radioactive radium, apparently the result of maintaining the lake's levels with water from the Floridan Aquifer, according to a University of Florida lake specialist and a state water official.
Although humans rarely eat mussels, the radium levels are considered high enough to pose a health risk and prompt a warning against eating the mollusks. In addition, the radium could make its way up the food chain, starting with animals that do dine on the mollusks, said Mark Brenner, an assistant professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
'In addition to possible human consumption, other animals such as raccoons and otters may feed on these freshwater mussels,' Brenner said.
Brenner found that mussels are capable of storing radium in their tissues in large quantities. For example, a gram of tissue in mussels in Round Lake near Tampa contained nearly 100,000 times the radium contained in a gram of lake water. Researchers are currently testing mussels from six augmented lakes with plans to test more of the 50 lakes and wetlands in the Southwest Florida Water Management District's 16-county region that have their water levels maintained using this method.
'It was a real shock to find extremely high radium levels in the tissues of mussels,' said Brenner, who also directs the UF's Land Use and Environmental Change Institute. 'A risk assessment completed as part of this project concluded that long-term consumption of mussels with high levels of radium could result in an increased cancer risk in humans.'
Doug Leeper, an environmental "
By: Ed Hunter (352) 392-1773 x 278
Source(s): Mark Brenner (352) 392-9617 ext. 232
Doug Leeper (352) 796-7211
TAMPA --- Freshwater mussels in at least one west central Florida lake -- and perhaps several others -- may contain elevated amounts of radioactive radium, apparently the result of maintaining the lake's levels with water from the Floridan Aquifer, according to a University of Florida lake specialist and a state water official.
Although humans rarely eat mussels, the radium levels are considered high enough to pose a health risk and prompt a warning against eating the mollusks. In addition, the radium could make its way up the food chain, starting with animals that do dine on the mollusks, said Mark Brenner, an assistant professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
'In addition to possible human consumption, other animals such as raccoons and otters may feed on these freshwater mussels,' Brenner said.
Brenner found that mussels are capable of storing radium in their tissues in large quantities. For example, a gram of tissue in mussels in Round Lake near Tampa contained nearly 100,000 times the radium contained in a gram of lake water. Researchers are currently testing mussels from six augmented lakes with plans to test more of the 50 lakes and wetlands in the Southwest Florida Water Management District's 16-county region that have their water levels maintained using this method.
'It was a real shock to find extremely high radium levels in the tissues of mussels,' said Brenner, who also directs the UF's Land Use and Environmental Change Institute. 'A risk assessment completed as part of this project concluded that long-term consumption of mussels with high levels of radium could result in an increased cancer risk in humans.'
Doug Leeper, an environmental "
posted by Greta Jane at Sunday, November 06, 2005
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