CONCERN ABOUT FOOD SAFETY ON ANNIVERSARY OF FUKUSHIMA

March 11, 2012 is the anniversary of last year's Japanese earthquake, Tsunami and nuclear disaster. Japan and the world are remembering this horrible tragedy - the lives lost ( an estimated 15,848 dead and 3,305 missing), numerous families, businesses and farms destroyed, and a nightmare which still haunts millions of people.

This awful event has also left many people in Japan still worried about how their health and the health of their children has been affected by the high levels of radiation leaked from the TEPCO operated Daichii-Fukushima nuclear power plant, not just through environmental exposure, but indirectly, through radiation-contaminated food and water. Many feel they were not adequately protected or informed - and still aren't.

I started blogging the issue already on March 15 - before there was any mention of food contamination. Today, in memory of the event, I glanced back at my 30 or so posts on radiation in food in Japan and in food exported from Japan. Sadly, my predictions seem to have been borne out.

The problem is not over. Some of the radionuclides continue to exist in soil, air, and water even hundreds of Km from Daichii. Japanese consumers continue to be concerned. People in other countries are also worried, particularly those living close to nuclear power plants.

But remember - eating a meal or even a few meals with high levels of radionuclides is not likely to cause lasting damage to your health. So when should you worry? I can't provide hard data. What I can do is pass on what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says will determine if this will be an an issue for you:

• the percentage of radiation contaminated foods in a your diet
• how much of the food you usually eat
• the length of time that you are eating such contaminated food (days, weeks or months)
• how vulnerable you are (for instance, infants and children and pregnant women are at special risk).

To your good health,

TSF

FUKUSHIMA RADIATION CONTINUES TO CONTAMINATE FOOD

Tomorrow, June 11, will be the 3 month anniversary of the disastrous tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in Japan. I was heavily blogging the implications for food safety before this huge European E.coli bacteria outbreak diverted my attention. Now I am back.

The contamination of the environment and of food seems to be much less in the news now than it was during the first two months. In fact, very little information on levels of radionuclides in Japan's food seems to be released, even though testing is apparently ongoing. But that does not mean that radioactive material from the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility is no longer drifting over populated areas and agricultural land where crops grow and animals graze. It is. Nor does it mean that people, especially in Japan, are not concerned about how this affects the safety of their food. I can tell they are from the searches that reach my blog.

So, in answer to some of the questions people have, I tried to find out where the radioactive material is going. After much searching, I finally found information on the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety

Agency's (ARPANSA) official site. They have modeled its path according to wind conditions. From yesterday, June 9 the radioactive materials was supposed to mainly be over Northern Japan. However, starting from Saturday mid-morning, changing wind conditions would push the plume to the south of the reactor site. There may be some landfall over Southern Japan. While no landfall is expected in Tokyo on Thursday, ARPANSA says it may occur Saturday and Sunday. Over the next 12 days or so, the radiation plume is expected to move over Korea, China, Russia and USA.

The ARPANSA website provides more detailed information. But you get the picture. The radioactive material is still drifting around. Soil, grass and agricultural crops in the path of the radiation plume are progressively becoming more and more contaminated as they accumulate unhealthy substances such as nuclear Caesium and Iodine (see earlier blogs for more information on these). Several countries which import Japanese food products such as seaweed, seafood, milk and fruits and vegetables are cautious about foods grown in Japanese prefectures of Kanagawa, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama, Tokyo, Yamagata, Miyagi and Shizuoka.

To your good health!

TSF