BRUSSELS, Aug 29 (AFP) Aug 29, 2008

Fresh tests carried out near a Belgian medical laboratory showed that a
leak of radioactive iodine last weekend was worse than had initially
been thought, authorities said late Thursday.

Samples of grass taken next to the National Institute for Radioactive
Elements near the southern city of Charleroi had shown higher levels of
radioactive iodine than the first tests, an interior ministry crisis
group said here.

The Belgian federal nuclear watchdog gave the incident a three on an
international scale of nuclear events that runs to seven, making it the
most serious ever in Belgium.

Late Thursday it warned people living near the laboratory not to eat
lettuce from their gardens and told farmers not to feed their cattle
with grass from the fields there.

Production of radioisotopes was stopped on Monday after an abnormally
high level of iodine was detected over the weekend in a ventilation chimney.

Hospitals in several countries could face a shortage of medical
radioisotopes used for imaging and treating cancer after the laboratory
halted production following the iodine leak, the institute said Wednesday.

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