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300Figure 12.10. Body burden of Cs-137 (Bq) in humans in Munich, Germany: (A) males,(B) females); in Grenoble, France (C) adults (UNSCEAR, 1988).burden in England in 1987 was 250–450 Bq(Uchiyama and Kobayashi, 1988). The thyroidI-131 burden measured in the neck region wasup to 33 Bq in adults and up to 16 Bq in childrenin Britain (Hill et al., 1986).12.3. ConclusionAll people living in territories heavily contaminatedby Chernobyl fallout continue to beexposed to low doses of chronic radiation. Humanbeings do not have sense organs to detectionizing radiation because it cannot be perceivedby sight, smell, taste, hearing, or touch.Therefore without special equipment to identifylevels of environmental contamination, itis impossible to know what radionuclide levelsare in our food and water or have been incorporatedinto our bodies.The simplest way to ensure radiation safetyin all areas contaminated by Chernobyl is tomonitor food for incorporated radionuclides.Analysis of levels of incorporated gammaradionuclidesby individual spectrometry (IRC)and radioactive monitoring of local foodin many Belarussian locations have demonstrateda high correlation between Cs-137 foodcontamination and the amount of radionuclidesin humans and, most importantly, inchildren.Chapter II of this volume detailed manycases of deterioration in public health associatedwith the Chernobyl radionuclide contamination.Many people suffer from continuingchronic low-dose radiation 23 years after thecatastrophe, owing primarily to consumptionof radioactively contaminated food. An importantconsideration is the fact that given an identicaldiet, a child’s radiation exposure is threetofivefold higher than that of an adult. Sincemore than 90% of the radiation burden nowadaysis due to Cs-137, which has a half-life ofabout 30 years, contaminated areas will continueto be dangerously radioactive for roughlythe next three centuries.Experience has shown that existing officialradioactive monitoring systems are inadequate(not only in the countries of the Former SovietUnion). Generally, the systems cover territoriesselectively, do not measure each person,and often conceal important facts when releasinginformation. The common factor amongall governments is to minimize spending forwhich they are not directly responsible, such asthe Chernobyl meltdown, which occurred 23years ago. Thus officials are not eager to obtainobjective data of radioactive contaminationof communities, individuals, or food. Undersuch circumstances, which are common,an independent system of public monitoring isneeded. Such an independent system is not a