PEOPLE need not take special protective measures when there were tiny traces of radiation in the air, said Yao Yizheng, an engineer at Daya Bay Nuclear Plant.
The Ministry of Environment Protection detected tiny traces of radioactive nuclide, iodine-131, in the air in six coastal provinces and cities, including Guangdong Province.
Yao said the tiny traces of iodine-131 would not be harmful to humans but a big intake would lead to thyroid illnesses and raise the possibility of thyroid cancer, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.
No abnormalities had been detected in the Shenzhen radiation environment by Tuesday, according to the city s nuclear and radiation management center of the environment protection bureau.
The management center had added two precise monitoring equipment to detect whether there was iodine-131 in Shenzhen s air. However, no monitoring results had been released by press time.
The radioactive nuclide spread in the air and arrived in Guangdong several days after Japan s nuclear leakage. The tiny amount required no precautions, said Han Faming, director of the monitoring office of the management center.
There were 17 environment monitoring sites across the city, where monthly monitoring has been conducted on the radiation environment in the air, soil and water, Han said.
Han said daily air sampling was conducted at six monitoring sites in the wake of Japan s nuclear leakage.
In a response to people s blind panic of radiation, Zhou Weiming, a doctor at Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, said the radiation also existed around home appliances but the amount was so tiny that it was not harmful to people s health. Refrigerator releases the least radiation among home appliances while microwave oven the most. In addition, experts said the radiation of computers had been exaggerated.
Experts suggested less use of mobile phone earphones to reduce the impact of the phone s radiation on people s bodies, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday. (Li Hao)
