Think your cheese grater consists solely of pure, unadulterated metal? Don’t be so sure. An investigation by Scripps Howard News Service revealed that thousands of common items, from shovels to elevator buttons, contain radioactive metals, thanks to a system that does not require potentially radioactive recycled metals to be tested or reported.
A few items that might set off your Geiger counter:
• Women’s handbags
• Tableware
• Fencing wire and fence posts
• Shovel blades
• Airline parts
• Reclining chairs
• Steel used in construction
But don’t encase yourself in lead just yet: Experts remain divided over whether continuous exposure to low levels of radioactivity poses a significant health risk. And don’t forget that plenty of other seemingly innocent objects are naturally slightly radioactive. That includes bananas, which contain a low level of a radioactive potassium isotope, and ceramic pots, because the clay they’re made out of is radioactive.
So if you’re planning on investing in a hazmat suit, you probably should’ve been wearing it all along.
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Image: flickr / dvortygirl
June 10th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Ehrrr
I eat a banana almost every day… am I supossed to have cancer?
June 10th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Your eyeballs are radioactive, get over it.
July 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
[...] Content: Discoblog: Caution: Your Cheese Grater May Be Radioactive, Study Finds Discoblog: Dear Aliens: Would You Like Some Processed Chips? Discoblog: Children’s [...]
January 20th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I think this is true for older made graters. The new onces are much safer, actually strong plastic is used in some cases. Thx for the read.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:24 am
[...] Your cheese-grater could be radioactive: an investigation into thousands of common items like elevator lift buttons, shovels, metal bits on handbags and the humble kitchen cheese-grater shows that these items might not be made of innocent looking metal but could in fact be slightly radioactive. Did you know that the banana is slightly radioactive because it contains radioactive potassium isotope? Better cut down on my banana intake! Potentially radioactive recycled metals don’t need to be tested or reported so they can be used in chairs, airline parts and even in the construction industry. Perhaps we could just encase ourselves in lead. Source: Discover Magazine. [...]