Friday, 27 September 2013

Radiation Fears Extend to Other Japanese Products 放射能の危険は加工品などのいろいろな日本食品に影響がでている

(Source) http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/09/26/2013092601474.html
Consumer agencies are urging the public to carefully inspect each and every food label before making purchases as the ingredients may have been processed in radiation-affected areas in Japan.

Due to contamination concerns, Seoul expanded its import ban to 50 products from Fukushima, site of a nuclear disaster in March 2011, and seven other nearby prefectures in Japan.

In addition to fish, the ban now includes leafy vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli. Those import restrictions, however, do not extend to processed foods or raw ingredients.


About seven tons of fishery products from Fukushima were imported in the span of one week last month, and local NGOs say the public may be at risk.

"Even the main ingredient in baby formula can be fish. There are many loopholes like these when dealing with processed foods," a spokesman for a NGO said.

Agricultural products from Japan are being thoroughly tested every day here to see if there are higher-than-average levels of radioactive cesium or iodine. However, experts say there's no effective way to detect other potentially harmful radioactive materials.




(Editor's note: No food authorities checks other harmful radioactive materials such as Strontium90 (half life is 29 years). It accumulates in bones. Once it's been ingested, it stays in the body, keeping emitting ionizing radiation to the nearest area in the body. It also concentrates through food chains. In Japan powdered fish bones are widely used as composing materials. ) 

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Trial fishing resumes off Fukushima after radiation tests

(Source) http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/25/national/trial-fishing-resumes-off-fukushima-after-radiatio-tests/#.UkVlmqzYXgU

Fukushima Farmers negotiate with Japanese Government/Tepco 福島農家の若者、政府と東電に対して勇気ある発言
 http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/fukushima-farmers-negotiate-with.html
 In Fukushima all farm produce must be checked for the cesium level prior to shipping.  The current government limit is 100Bq/kg. The farmers know how many Bq of cesium their produce contains.  We can ship them if the reading is lower than 100.  

But I would not dare eat them myself.

The consumers assume there is no radiation in the food they buy. 

(Editor’s comment: Prof. Koide at Kyoto Research Reactor Institute commented that it was 0.1Bq/kg for cesium in rice before the Fukushima disaster.  So 100Bq/kg means 1000 times more radioactively contaminated than before.)






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