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Yikes! Bed, Bath & Beyond Recalls Possibly Radioactive Tissue Boxes
Image via the Department of Public Health
If you bought a metal tissue box cover from Bed, Bath & Beyond recently, you should check to make sure that you didn't buy a model that could—no joke—possibly contain radioactive materials.The state department of public health says some of the tissue boxes might have been contaminated with radioactive cobalt-60. The state also claims that these boxes don't pose an immediate health threat. But you might want to err on the side of caution and return the “Dual Ridge Metal Boutique tissue boxes."
How on earth could radioactive material end up in a household product? The state explains:
Cobalt-60 is 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.
The issue was discovered when some trucks bound for our fair state set off some radioactive sensors at a truck scale, according to Gothamist.The models were sold around many stores in Southern California: Oxnard, Canoga Park, Pasadena, Chula Vista, San Diego, Fontana, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Studio City, Valencia, West Covina, Oceanside, Yorba Linda, Ontario and good old Los Angeles.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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