CHICAGO, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The Illinois Emergency Management Agency found medical waste in a load of refuse from a Chicago garbage truck that set off radioactivity alarms.
The contents of the truck were dumped and sorted after triggering alarms at the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation West Side recycling yard Monday.
Investigators found medical waste containing low level Iodine-131 mixed in with the residential garbage, the Chicago Tribune said.
Iodine 131 is used in chemotherapy for cancer patients and has other medical uses.
Investigators from the Division of Nuclear Safety of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency said the radioactive iodine was on a diaper or tissue and had very low levels of radiation.
The entire load from the garbage truck was taken to a landfill for disposal as a precaution.
