I don’t remember what the chemical was, but back in college a fraternity brother was working on his thesis and had discovered trace amounts of a carcinogen in supermarket milk. He had thought that a certain chemical/plastic manufacturing plant was the source and that nearby dairy farms had been contaminated.
His advisor told him to look into other possibly contaminated foods. Sure enough, trace amounts were in orange juice. He looked at orange juice because groves were also close to the plant.
His advisor then told him to look at apple juice. My friend thought that maybe this was as a control, but surprisingly, the chemical was there as well!
What a discovery! This carcinogen had leeched its way into many of our drinks and juices! Something had to be done!
The advisor then had him collect samples from bottled water, canned soda, V-8 juice, lots of stuff, even eggs. To my friend’s amazement EVERYTHING had this carcinogen in it!
It was at this point the advisor told him to change his thesis. Even if this chemical was a carcinogen - which it may not be at the levels discovered - it was obviously everywhere and would be impossible to remove from the environment.
I wish I could remember what the chemical was...
When the old Chernobyl Nuclear Exclusion Zone was opened up to scientists to study the flora and fauna there after 30+ years of essentially being sealed off from human contact, they were stunned at what they found.
Animals everywhere! Al all seemingly perfectly healthy! The trees, grasses, soil and the animals themselves were all radioactive, beyond the levels considered ‘safe’. Every animal they captured, from tiny mice and birds to rabbits, deer, bear, fox and moose, were all radioactive, but healthy!
What was the cause of this weird paradox?
Eventually they figured it out.
The animals do not live long enough for the radioactivity to become a health problem. Any animal that does develop cancers or tumors, quickly becomes a meal for a predator and is removed from further deposits in the gene pool.
Only the animals that develop a natural ‘immunity’ to the radiation survive and pass their DNA down to the next generations.
So, if we ever have a nuclear war there is still hope for some life to be left alive on Earth.............