Oho, so that's the reason why my homemade pizza and my cooking utensils were glowing in the dark!

dammit dammit dammit, that was my line.

I keep wondering why it is I can find my recliner in the dark now, oh, wait, it's because of the Strontium 90.

ahh, the joys of the nuc-u-lear age.

So, what we're supposed to gather from this article is we should just give up already and accept that we're being poisoned constantly by everything we use?

Sorry. I hit 'cancer overload' about a year ago. I am sick of being told by the media that anything I can touch, smell, eat, see, or hear WILL give me cancer. We are all born knowing that we will die. It's how we live our lives that matters. I for one will not spend my life living in fear.

Bah. I'm from NJ. any radioactivity is just a drop in the bucket of the constant chest x-ray exposure I expierence just going into my basement.

So the news here is that the Chinese cheap out wherever they can at the expense of our health?

I don't see that changing anytime soon.

"Blessed are the cheese graters, for they shall cause the fission of men".

Sounds like the beginning of a bad comic book.

Paul Pickle accidentally eats some pizza, made with cheese grated with a radioactive cheese grater.

From that moment on, he becomes Mozzarella Man, blessed with all the powers of an Italian cheese!

The Chinese cheaping out... and this is something new? I knew years ago when I was selling metal working equipment that the steel coming from there was terrible. They will mix anything together and pretend it is any grade steel you want it to be.

@cherveny:

and what, praytell would be mozzarella man's powers be? The ability to be extra salty and would he also have a cousin, buffuleta man?

Must be a slow news day or something. There's no frame of reference in the article at all. How much radiation can you get from a cheese grater that you pull out once a week vs. my dual CRT computer screens I sit in front of for 8 hours a day. Or compared to how much radiation I'm exposed to walking from my front door to the mailbox and back?

Seriously. It's like people need to continually make up things to be scared and/or worried about.

@dorkhero: I just figure anything will give you cancer at this point.

Yet another scare story from the same folks you keep telling us every year that coffee causes cancer. This reminds me of a statistics joke:

"It's been determined that research causes cancer in rats"

For those of you with granite countertops: they too are radioactive. Now go panic.

@dorkhero: Always remember that lab rats ALL die from cancer, unless killed. Makes me feel better.

One generic item that I have tried but will never ever buy again: chocolate syrup. Never comes close to Hershey's.

I also never skimp on chocolate chips. Tollhouse only for me. However, I am dumbfounded as to why my supermarket prices the 24 oz bags of Tollhouse chips at more than twice the cost of the 12 oz bags.

I opt for store brand when it comes to all kinds of things. However, I have the easiest time sticking to store brands when I know that it's food that is basically what you see is what you get. Like block cheese, butter, yogurt, etc.

Keep in mind that most things are radioactive, including Consumerist readers. The Earth, the sky, organic materials. Just pointing out that something is "radioactive" does nothing more than acknowledge its existence. And insisting on zero radioactivity will do far more harm than good.

You really want to avoid exposure to radioactivity? Don't smoke.

@dorkhero: That's the spirit!

Can I be on your will???

@sanjsrik:

Or scald the roof of your mouth because you do not pay attention to the fact that your cheese stick just came out of a vat of hot grease.

Then you eat another one with the same consequence because you did not learn the first time... not that it has ever happened to me.

So is a Geiger counter a necessary household tool now?

I for one, welcome our glow in the dark cookie sheets.

@Gokuhouse: i reached that point last summer with the whole BPA debacle.
Something is going to kill me sooner or later...

@seanhcalgary: hm, maybe the Hummers will be made out of radioactive metals...
and Hummer Drivers will evolve. whether it's deadly things like brain tumors, or scary things like a machine gun in their shoulder, remains to be seen.

@seanhcalgary: Um basically everyone will take the cheapest out even at the expense of our health.

@Veeber: Yes, but the Chinese are particularly good at it.

That said, it doesn't make the businesses over here any less guilty. They want to keep costs as low as possible, so as far as I'm concerned they're as much to blame as the Chinese.

@sanjsrik: and what, praytell would be mozzarella man's powers be?

I'm thinking a cross between Mario and Stretch Armstrong

Aw, come on. It'll only be radioactive for a few dozen thousand years.

So we should be getting one of those Civil Defence surplus geiger counters off of ebay now?

Remember to purchase your uranium ore. It will protect you: [www.amazon.com]

I actually prefer radiation in cooking utensils. Mark Twain called radiation "the spice of life."

Okay, I just made that shit up about Mark Twain, but I bet he'd say it if he thought of it.

@Gokuhouse: Yes.

I gave up when I learned that microwave popcorn contains carcinogens.

@rkaufman: Giving up is a bad idea. Have some self respect and stand up for yourself and others.

I can see that ShamWow guy now..."look at this grater!...it grates and MELTS the cheese in one step and now after using it, I don't have to worry about getting chicks pregnant!"

Various environmental groups have been saying this for years. But because some of those same groups allege entirely crackpotty things, it's hard to know when they're right and when it's time to back away from the bong.

I first heard rumours of BPA in plastic bottles from these groups and discounted it as crackpottery. Now it's a real issue with some governments thankfully banning it. With the radioactive scrap metal rumor being true now too, it makes me wonder about some of the others: lead in the crockpot glaze that leeches out over time but is within FDA allowable amounts, chemicals in disposable menstrual pads that slow down flow so women have longer periods and thus use more pads, neurotoxins in the flame retardent sprayed on mattresses, pillows, and infant sleepwear...are any of those true as well?

How the hell is the average person supposed to be able to tell what's an insane conpiracy theory and what's actually a dangerous product? It's all so frustrating and depressing. :(

@cherveny: Ahh, the powers of CheeseMan.

@geeky_reader: While you are clearly commenting on a different article, the context makes it pretty funny. I wouldn't want any radioactive Chinese chocolate instead of the Hershey's either.

@winshape:

The cheese grater they found contained "Cobalt 60"

Unlike uranium, which is naturally occurring, Cobalt 60 has to be made using a nuclear reactor. It emits the strongest form of radiation - called gamma rays.

"If the grater is in your kitchen drawer…and you're standing near that drawer - the gamma rays can pass through it - which means you can absorb the radiation."

[www.wxyz.com]

@winshape: Heh hey, you said "slow news day".
No, really; why are you here?

Dang, now I need instructions on how to make my own Geiger counter.

@ColoradoShark: hahaha. Dangit.

@Nogard13: I love the comments on this item.

Hey, you can have cooking utensils that cook your food even before you put it in the oven! Now all we need is the sham-wow guy and a 30 minute infomercial.

@dorkhero: It's because you are being exposed to chemicals that humans were never exposed to before the industrial age. And now they're in everything.

@seanhcalgary: For Americans, it's not the Chinese cheaping out that's the problem. It's the American companies cheaping out and buying crap from China.

This gives me an idea for a product - a kitchen geiger counter. Now, you too can know how many rads you get from your food! It's like Fallout.

@bloggerX: Wow... does the pizza dish cook the pizza without the oven?

@bloggerX: You're lucky, my Habanero cheddar cheese block starting doing the mexican hat dance every hour on the hour. I just wish I knew where it got that tiny sombrero.

It'd be helpful if you'd link to products we can use to test whether our household items contain (unsafe levels of) radiation, and offering suggestions as to how positive results should be handled.

@youbastid: Which of course explains why cooking meat over an open flame creates carcinogens.