The 137Cs content in Finnish people consuming foodstuffs of wild origin

The deposition of 137Cs from Chernobyl was very unevenly distributed. This resulted in big variations in foodstuffs especially those of wild origin. For estimation of internal doses groups of people were studied with whole-body counting techniques. A Helsinki group, deposition 3 kBq.m-2, was studied from 1965 onwards and groups from Viitasaari, deposition 29 kBq.m-2, and Aemmansaari, deposition 1.5 kBq.m-2 were studied from 1987 to 1994. Special items in the diet of people from Viitasaari were local freshwater fish and from Aemmansaari reindeer meat. In spring 1987 the mean body burdens of the Viitasaari (10 kBq) and the Aemmansaari (7.4 kBq) were 4 to 5 times that of the Helsinki group (1.9 kBq). In 1994 only 15% of the maximum mean body burden in the Viitasaari group was found. In the Helsinki and Aemmansaari groups the corresponding percentage was about thirty. The great influence of the consumption of foodstuffs of wild origin was seen. (author)