Radioactive Pet Bowls Sold at Chicago Petco Stores!!
Can you believe this? Stainless steel pet bowls contaminated with low levels
of radioactive material might have been shipped to 11 Petco stores
throughout Illinois.
Two contaminated bowls were discovered on Friday (June 22) by state
inspectors at a Petco store at 2000 N. Clybourn Ave., Chicago, according to
a release from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA). The state
agency also said five possibly contaminated bowls might have been sold from
the Clybourn store between June 14 and 15.
According to a report from the Herald News newspaper, the bowls contained
traces of cobalt-60,, but the highest radiation level detect was so low that
holding one of the bowl for about six and a half days would be equivalent to
an x-ray scan. The newspaper story quoted IEMA Director Jonathon Monken
saying that the bowls pose no immediate health risk (to people). I ask, what
if pets eat from them? How do they hold up in the dishwasher? Can radiation
there be spread to other dishes in the dishwasher? All questions which we
should never need to ask.
The shipment containing the contaminated bowls was received by a
distribution center in Joliet, where inspectors found several items that
imitated radiation, the IEMA said. There is no word, thus far, were the pet
bowls are from (unlikely to have been made in the U.S.A. - though I don't
know that).
The bowls have since been pulled from shelves, and state and federal
officials are working with Petco officials to isolate any contaminated bowls
the IEMA said.
The IEMA recommends that anyone who believes they purchased a contaminated
bowl should call the store where they bought it.
Among the Petco stores that might have received contaminated bowls are:
2000 North Clybourn, Chicago
440 North Orleans St., Chicago
629 East Dundee Road, Palatine
2204 S. Harlem, North Riverside
4411 16th St., Moline
1310-1312 E. Main St., Carbondale
2046 N. State Route 50, Bourbonnais
199 S. Route 83, Elmhurst
9645 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
17930 Halsted St., Homewood
11720 S. Marshfield, Chicago
