EPA: Radiation levels in U.S. milk 'safe'

WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Milk from the U.S. West Coast has above-normal levels of radioactive iodine but is safe as levels are 5,000 times below the danger threshold, officials say.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration reported radioactive iodine-131 in milk samples from California and Washington Wednesday, ABC News reported.

The agencies have been tracking radiation levels in milk and other food products in the United States during Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis.

"These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children," the EPA said on its Web site.

A radiation reading from milk in Spokane, Wash., on March 25 was 0.8 picocuries per liter, less than that of a normal banana, which naturally contains radioactive potassium.

"Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a minuscule amount compared to what people experience every day," FDA senior scientist Patricia Hansen said in a statement.

Last week the FDA instituted a ban on milk and produce imported from Japan's Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures.

"Radioactivity levels in milk products are monitored, so it is unlikely that any significantly contaminated milk would make it to the marketplace," Timothy Jorgensen of the department of radiation medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center said.

"The U.S. population need not be concerned about this level of Iodine-131."