Last updated 15:56, Wednesday, 09 April 2008

ONE would (we are told) have to drink 75,000 litres of (local) milk before there is any risk to human health from its radioactive content.

The calculation from Sellafield is meant to allay any concerns from the recent discovery of higher-than-normal levels of iodine-129 in milk routinely sampled at a farm near our nuclear site.

We accept there is no risk to health but the point surely is that most of us didn’t know there was any radioactivity in the milk to start with, nor that the higher levels reached the food chain.

Scaremongering is not in order and the last thing we want is for anyone not to buy local milk. But more reassurance is needed, especially when it comes to identifying the exact nature of the source of the radioactive contamination.

The Environment Agency is not the only one awaiting the answers.