Radioactive wild boars in central Europe: an alert study on the risks associated with the consumption of pachyderms

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Scientists claim that many wild boars proliferating in central Europe are radioactive. The fault lies, among other things, with the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, but also with the nuclear tests that were carried out in this region in the last century.

Radioactive boars, in central Europe. This is the observation made by the American Chemical Society (ACS). In a study published Wednesday August 30 and shared in the American magazine Popular mechanicsthe structure claims that many pachyderms are contaminated at “significant” levels with cesium, a residue from atomic weapon explosions.

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To explain this phenomenon, researchers took a close interest in the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986… but not only. Scientists say it was also necessary to look at the nuclear tests that took place between the 1960s and 1990s in this region: “The sixty-year-old radioactive cesium from fallout from nuclear weapons testing is significant in the contamination levels of wild boar in central Europe. , previously thought to be primarily due to Chernobyl,” the study explains.

Radioactive “sponges”

The document explains that the nuclear tests carried out in 1939 on German soil are the source of 68% of the contamination of wild boars in central Europe. Cesium would thus contaminate not only the soil, the flora but also the fauna. And if scientists have observed in recent years a drop in the overall radioactivity of hunted animals, wild boars seem to be an exception to the rule.

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According to the researchers, this is partly due to the feeding habits of wild boars, which generally feed on mushrooms and underground truffles. These foods are in fact real “sponges” of radioactivity. In Germany, the ACS analyzed wild boar meat samples: 88% of these samples showed radioactive cesium levels above local regulatory limits. “Our work allows us to better understand the notorious contamination of Bavarian boars by cesium”, indicate the scientists, who indicate that they want to sound the alarm on the consumption of these animals.

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