“Thousands of everyday products and materials containing radioactive metals are surfacing across the United States and around the world. Common kitchen cheese graters, reclining chairs, women’s handbags and tableware manufactured with contaminated metals have been identified, some after having been in circulation for as long as a decade. So have fencing wire and fence posts, shovel blades, elevator buttons, airline parts and steel used in construction.”

“Thousands of consumer goods and millions of pounds of unfinished metal and its byproducts have been found to contain low levels of radiation, and experts think the true amount could be much higher, perhaps by a factor of 10.”

Apparently there are some isolated cases of recycling facilities inadvertently melting recycled metal with metal contaminated with radioactive materials. How widespread this may be is not known.

“The precise degree of that danger has not yet been definitively determined for low-level radiation, such as that contained in commonplace goods and materials…According to a 2006 report by a National Academy of Sciences panel, there is a direct relationship between radiation and an increased risk of cancer. Prolonged exposure can also lead to birth defects and cataracts, studies have shown.”

“There are no reports of anyone dying or being hurt in the United States after contact with the contaminated metal goods and materials. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leaves no doubt that tainted metal poses a particular threat.”

The way to measure radioactivity of metal is with a geiger counter. You can buy a geiger counter on eBay for less than $100.

Most metals today, whether labeled “recycled” or not, contain some percentage of recycled material because it just makes sense economically and environmentally. The solution here is not to eliminate recycling, but to be more careful about the manufacture of recycled metals.

scrippsnews: Recycled radioactive metal contaminates consumer products