document: Radioactive boars in Germany a legacy of Chernobyl Radioactive boars : A quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union carried a cloud of radiation across Europe , these animals are radioactive enough that people are urged not to eat them . BERLIN For a look at just how long radioactivity can hang around , consider Germany 's wild boars . A quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union carried a cloud of radiation across Europe , these animals are radioactive enough that people are urged not to eat them . And the mushrooms the pigs dine on are n't fit for consumption either . Germany 's experience shows what could await Japan - if the problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant get any worse . Nuclear power around the world The German boars roam in forests nearly 950 miles -LRB- 1,500 kilometers -RRB- from Chernobyl . Yet , the amount ofradioactive cesium-137 within their tissue often registers dozens of times beyond the recommended limit for consumption and thousands of times above normal . '' `` We still feel the consequences of Chernobyl 's fallout here , '' '' said Christian Kueppers , a radiation expert at Germany 's Institute for Applied Ecology in Freiburg . '' `` The contamination wo n't go away any time soon - with cesium 's half-life being roughly 30 years , theradioactivity will only slightly decrease in the coming years . '' '' Cesium can build up in the body and high levels are thought to be a risk for various other cancers . Still , researchers who studied Chernobyl could not find an increase in cancers that might be linked to cesium . Cesium also accumulates over time in the soil , which makes boars most susceptible They snuffle through forest soil with their snouts and feed on the kinds of mushroom that tend to store radioactivity , Environment Ministry spokesman Thomas Hagbeck said . The problem is so common that now all wild boars bagged by hunters in the affected regions have to be checked for radiation . Government compensation to hunters whose quarry has to be destroyed has added up to $ 460,000 -LRB- $ 650,000 -RRB- over the past 12 months , Hagbeck said . '' `` It 's really sad when you have to throw out meat that is normally extraordinarily tasty , '' '' said Joachim Reddemann , managing director of Bavaria state 's hunting association . Thousands of wild boars killed in southern Germany every year register unacceptable levels of radiation . It 's calculated in becquerels , a measurement of radiation given off . Anything beyond 600 becquerels per kilogram is n't recommended , according to Germany 's Federal Office for Radiation Protection . Normal meat has an average contamination of 0.5 becquerel per kilogram , and a German would normally consume about 100 becquerels per year from plants and dairy products , the agency said . About 2 percent of the 50,000 boars hunted are above the legal radioactivity limit , Reddemann said . And the government 's radiation protection office says some mushrooms have registered up to 20 times the legal cesium limit . Even farther away in France , there is still soil contamination , though levels have dropped significantly . It is now rare to find unsafe levels of cesium in boars and mushrooms , said radiation expert Philippe Renaud of France 's Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety . In Austria , too , traces of radioactive cesium remain in the soil . Along with boars and mushrooms , deer have been affected - some testing at five times the legal limit , that country 's environment agency says . Japan 's Fukushima plant has so far not leaked nearly as much radiation as Chernobyl , but authorities there have banned the sale of milk , spinach , cabbage and other products from surrounding regions as a precaution . European officials insist that occasionally eating contaminated boar meat or mushrooms does not pose an immediate health risk . Public health agencies are typically conservative in setting limits for radioactivity in food . Eating 200 grams of mushrooms tested seven times above the legal cesium limit , for example , would amount to the same exposure as the altitude radiation taken in during a 2,000-mile flight , according to Germany 's Office for Radiation Protection . In Austria , authorities say that eating the unlikely amount of 2 pounds of contaminated boar meat that is 10 times above the legal cesium limit would amount to two-thirds of an adult 's normal annual radiation intake by food . However , the possibility of exposure will not be going away anytime soon . '' `` We assume that wild game will still be similarly affected until 2025 and then very slowly recede , '' '' said Reddemann , of Bavaria 's hunting association . '' `` The problem will certainly still be around for the next 100 years , and Chernobyl will still be an issue for our children and grandchildren . '' '' Nuclear power around the world
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