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            In Soul Tsunami, Leonard Sweet tells the story of a Brazilian junk dealer who bought a stainless steel cylinder salvaged from a demolished medical lab.  Inside the cylinder, he discovered a cake of crumbly powder that produced a mysterious blue light.  He took the powder home to show his family.  His 6-year-old niece rubbed the glowing dust on her body as if it were carnival glitter.  The Brazilian night soon filled with the laughter of glowing, dancing children.

            The dust was cesium-137, a highly radioactive substance used in cancer therapy.  The glow came from decaying cesium atoms with the power to destroy living cells.  The little girl was dead by morning.  Other children died in the days following. The story is a tragic moral for our times.

Church & Family, Summer 2002, “Preserving Innocence in a Toxic World.” Jody Vickery, page 2