Tissue Boxes Sold In So. Calif. May Be Radioactive
Shiny metallic-blue tissue box containers recently sold in California may owe their color to radioactive cobalt 60, and purchasers were urged by state safety experts this weekend to return them.
A freeway-side radioactivity detector operated by the California Highway Patrol went off when a truck containing a shipment of “Dual Ridge Metal Boutique tissue boxes” went through a weigh station, according to a statement issued by the California Department of Public Health.
The state said the boxes were sold at some, but not all, Bed Bath and Beyond stores.
The boxes’ low level of radioactivity “poses no immediate health threat,” and they can safely be carried back to stores for a refund. The metal boxes are marked with model number DR9M.
According to the state, the chain sold the boxes at stores in Fontana and Ontario Mills in the Inland Empire.
In Los Angeles County, the boxes were sold at Canoga Park, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Studio City, Valencia and West Covina, and in Orange County they were sold in Huntington Beach and Irvine.
Health officials describe Cobalt-60 as a man-made product that is typically used to sterilize medical products or in cancer radiation therapy. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission stated that scrap metal containing Cobalt-60 could have strayed into a metal load smelted in India and been incorporated in these products.
San Diego-area stores that sold the boxes were in Chula Vista, Oceanside and San Diego. They were also sold in Oxnard and four stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, the store company told the state.
