539 



12 



Martcetpiace Seafoods Monitoring 



EPA and the Food and Drug Administration initiated a program in 

 iySi for radioanalysis of commercial seafoods from three cities near 

 tne major formerly used U.S. ocean dumpsites, namely, San Francisco, 

 California; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Boston, Massachusetts. 

 Samples were obtained at dockside from fishermen who fished in the 

 vicinity of tnese dumpsites and were bringing their seafoods to the 

 marketplace. Radioactivity measurements of these seafoods were made at 

 tne FDA Winchester Engineering and Analytical Center in Winchester, 

 Massachusetts, and at the EPA Eastern Environmental Radiation Facility 

 in Montgomery, Alabama. Since the food chain is the only significant 

 way in which radioactivity from these old dumpsites could reach man, 

 such sampling and analyses are the simplest way to determine the 

 significance to man of these earlier operations. A total of 36 samples 

 have Deen collected so far, and the analyses indicate only "normal" 

 background levels of radioactivity. Because no significant 

 radioactivity has been found in these seafoods, the FDA decided in 1983 

 that furtner analyses by their laboratory would not be warranted. 

 However, we anticipate that the FDA will be able to continue collecting 

 marketplace seafoods for analysis by EPA to allow detection of any 



