by Elizabeth Shaw | The Flint Journal
Tuesday November 11, 2008
GENESEE TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- There are lots of toxic hazards to guard against in the stuff that ends up at recycling centers and landfills.
Until this past summer, a radioactive cheese grater wasn't one of them.
According to the state Department of Environmental Quality, the common kitchen utensil with an uncommon past set off the alarms at Genesee Recycling in August, sending ripples all the way to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Environmental Protection Agency.
"We know it was manufactured in China but at this point we are still unsure what the source of the material is or was, or where it possibly entered the system," said Thor Strong, the state DEQ's chief of radiological protection.
Strong said his office got the call when workers at the recycling facility dug through an incoming scrap metal load that had set off their radiation monitors, tracking the source to a cheap handheld cheese grater made by EKCO and labelled "Made in China."
It's only the latest in an ongoing string of toxic products imported from China -- including children's toys loaded with toxic lead, pet food poisoned with melamine and toothpaste containing ingredients used in antifreeze.
"This appears to be yet another example of how our system of keeping Michiganders and all Americans safe from potentially hazardous chemicals and products is failing," said Mike Shriberg, spokesman for the Ecology Center, which has led an ongoing campaign to protect kids from toxic toys.
"The nation's chemical regulatory laws are woefully out-of-date, and the increasing number of potential hazards showing up in Michiganders' homes is evidence that an update and improvement is needed now."
Homeowner Lillie Pittman, who lives on Charles Avenue within eyeshot of the scrap metal facilities along North Dort Highway, was surprised to hear about the incident.
"It does worry me when you find out something is radioactive that close to me," said Pittman, who's lived in the neighborhood since 1969.
"I am glad to hear they have the monitors though. There's not enough regulation of these places, especially nowadays with so many people taking siding off houses and doing all those illegal things to make money off scrap metal."
Investigators believe the radioactive isotope Cobalt 60 was present in materials inadvertently smelted into the stainless steel wire around the grater's rim during its overseas manufacture.
It was probably shipped to the U.S. more than six years ago, before Michigan's border crossings had radiation monitors in place.
"Now with the monitors at customs, people who recently have gone through nuclear medical treatments are frequently setting them off," said Strong. "Even things they may have come in contact with, like a toothbrush or kleenix."
Such items don't really pose a safety hazard, he said. The isotypes used in nuclear medicine decay quckly and are typically no longer radioactive within a matter of weeks or months.
Genesee Recycling officials declined to comment on the issue, only confirming the item had been turned over to authorities and that such monitoring is standard procedure.
"It's not all that rare. We probably get calls from scrap metal places maybe a dozen times a year because nowadays I think virtually all of them have fairly sensitive portal monitors so they can avoid inadvertently getting radioactive materials," said Strong.
Other local scrap metal recyclers also declined comment. But Strong said people might be surprised at the range of materials that could be radioactive.
"You must understand that some pretty innocuous things can set off those monitors. Some things are basically radioactive because it's present in nature," said Strong.
"It's not an issue, really. Depending on what it is exactly, much of these things that trip monitors can go to landfills safely."
Certain ceramic products and fire brick from kilns and furnaces can contain low levels of radiation naturally present in some clay soils.
Uranium and thorium -- a common, slightly radioactive metal -- can be found in granite and certain soils. Coal ash and oil and gas sludges can also be midly radioactive.
Old pipes from oil and gas drilling operations can develop a radium scale from years of drilling deep into the earth.
"But we've had other things. Sometimes we find old radium smoke alarms that made their way from an old building that had old-style alarms made in the 1940's and 1950's," said Strong.
"Most of these products are exempt from any regulatory control and there's no hazard in throwing them out as ordinary trash, but if they find their way to a landfill or recycling center that has a monitor, sometimes they will indeed set them off."
The cheese grater was unusual because the radioactive material was not a natural or necessary component.
"The EPA is working with the company and the company is trying to do their homework to determine how it happened," said Strong.
"They've looked at their current product on the shelf and determined their current stock is not contaminated."
Strong said there's no reason for a widespread cheese grater scare.
"The grater really wouldn't pose a risk to the point where people have to be really concerned. When asked, we just say if you have a $3 grater from that manufacturer and it's a few years old and you're concerned it might have come from the same stock, just toss it out and get new one.
"Fortunately, so far we have not gotten any calls from people wanting to bring their cheese grater in to be tested."
Pittman said she's not too worried about her own cheese grater.
"I keep it sitting on the window ledge so I can reach and get it when I need it. I've had it years and years," she said, chuckling. "I don't use it that often but it's handy if I need to grate some cheese."