Mexico served radioactive milk from Chernobyl in millions of Mexican homes during the 1980s, without imagining the consequences. Apparently the then government ignored the medical warnings and those who ended up paying were innocent people.
According to information provided by @Archiveroexp, user on X (formerly Twitter); the same ones who managed to declassify the 1986 file; The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant generated a radioactive cloud that affected much of Europe, including Ireland, a country that imported powdered milk to Mexico even though it knew it was contaminated.
Even though the government was warned about the quality of this milk, it still decided to mix one package of radioactive milk with six clean ones. That was the suggestion to the Government of Mexico so that the National Popular Subsistence Company (Conasupo) could sell the radioactive milk, the reason? Milk was cheaper than others.
“The sale of this released milk to other companies is not authorized, either as raw material or in the form of powdered milk. It can only be marketed once diluted under the indicated proportion,” is read in one of the documents declassified and disseminated by
The radioactive milk was not hidden, Mexican authorities knew it was contaminated
Between June and August 1986, five ships carrying contaminated milk powder arrived from Ireland. Mexico did not require any security certificate from Ireland. Three other shipments entered Mexico between June and November 1987. At that time, the parastatal company CONASUPO was the only one authorized to import milk. How did that happen?
According to what was found, the Ministry of Health was aware that the milk was contaminated at the time of purchase; however, in 1986 its distribution was authorized, but in minimum quantities and avoiding repeated consumption in a population.
That was when the green light was given to mix a bag of contaminated powdered milk with 6 clean ones, with the aim of diluting the harmful effects of the food. This is how more than 40 tons of powdered milk and butter were distributed for a year throughout the country, to the most disadvantaged sectors of the country. Everything was going well until sick sailors were reported in the naval zone of Veracruz.
The first cases of concern about radioactive milk
The case exploded in Mexico in 1987 when Vice Admiral Manuel Rodríguez Gordillo detected dozens of sick sailors stationed in Veracruz; When investigating the origin, they agreed that the stomach upsets were caused by the consumption of atole prepared with radioactive milk, which was distributed by Conasupo.
“It had 10 times more radioactive strontium and cesium that can cause genetic damage, cancer and a series of diseases,” said Miguel Ángel Valdovinos, head of nuclear analysis at the Laguna Verde nuclear plant, Veracruz.
Rodríguez Gordillo reported during an interview in 2019 that he requested samples of the 47 thousand tons of milk that were purchased from Northern Ireland and when the same results were obtained, it was suggested that the warehouses be closed. This situation was not the only one since the government recalled that the milk was consumed mainly by children, increasing chaos in the country.
Childhood cancer resulting from radioactive milk
30 years after the shipment, the National Institute of Pediatrics suggested that the consumption of milk contaminated by Chernobyl and childhood cancer could be related, especially because cases of childhood cancer in the country reached a 300% increase from 1987 to 1997.
How was milk contaminated if Ireland and Ukraine are hundreds of kilometers apart?
Although the nuclear plant accident occurred in continental Europe, the radioactive cloud He traveled to several countries.
At its peak, theThe cloud reached the British Isles, including Ireland, the country where the milk was producedor that the Mexican Government bought.
Although the Soviet government did everything possible to hide the effects of what had happened, the true magnitude of the catastrophe soon began to emerge. Among the most affected places was Ireland, a country where a cloud of radioactivity traveled between May 2 and 4, according to reports from the Nuclear Energy Board of Dublin. Because it was a rainy season, the radiation affected crops, animals and territory.