Radioactive cheese grater found in Flint illustrates lack of federal oversight
Last year a Chinese-made EKCO brand cheese grater set off radiation alarms at a Flint scrap yard — it was emitting the equivalent of a chest X-ray every 36 hours.
A new investigative piece published by the Scripps Howard News Service explores official responses to the discovery of the radioactive cheese grater and finds that there is no government agency in charge of tracking radioactive consumer products.
According to the report, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has no authority to force the seller of the cheese grater — World Kitchen — to cooperate with an investigation. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency only regulates nuclear facilities that it licenses, the Department of Homeland Security only tracks radioactive materials at the borders, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is not tracking radioactive consumer products.
The story notes that at least one other radioactive cheese grater was discovered in Florida and quotes Michigan Department of Environmental Quality investigator Gregg Dempsey as saying that Congress should specify what agency will be responsible for protecting the public from radioactive goods.
Dempsey told the news service: “We are dealing with this on an emergency response basis. It shouldn’t be that way.”
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