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

HOW RADIATION COULD CONTAMINATE JAPAN'S FOOD: LESSONS FROM CHERNOBYL

With the ongoing disaster in Japan on my mind, I spent some time today trying to find out about how radioactivity could affect Japan's agriculture and how long contamination could last. I looked to UN and other research done on the Chernobyl incident for answers, although hopefully, the amounts of radioactive materials released will not be as bad in the case of Japan. At present we simply don't know. Here are some potential lessons from Chernobyl for Japan's food production and consumption that emerge from these studies.

In the early months after the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine, food contaminated in areas with high radiation exposure was mainly due to radioiodine. It turned up in high levels in plants and grass and plant eating animals and their products (such as milk, including goat and sheep milk) and in fish in certain waters, with special risks for children and pregnant women. But iodine-131 is short lived. After a couple of months, most of it decayed. After that the main hazard for food crops was the uptake by root vegetables of radioisotopes from the soil (where rain had deposited it), especially the dangerous caesium.

What I found interesting in the Chernobyl case was that apparently the levels of radiocaesium in food crops and in animal feed were not just affected by how much of it floated around in an area and landed on the soil, but by factors such as the type of soil and type of agriculture and livestock management practices that area people used.

Problems persisted longer in the extensive type of agriculture system (think "traditional" or "subsistence") where the soil is not ploughed much, there is a lot of organic content, and where animals graze in open "natural" pastures. The Chernobyl case suggests that forest foods and animals grazing in forest and mountainous areas can retain high levels of radiocaesium for decades.

In sum, as I understand the findings (and I hope I have got it right) in the short term (about two months) the main food hazard in agriculture areas after radioactivity is radioiodine in fresh fruits and vegetables (e.g. leafy greens) growing above ground, and in milk and dairy products from area cattle. For the next couple of years or so after that, caesium contamination of root vegetables would be the main risk to avoid, particularly on organic farms and where traditional farming practices are still used. Over the still longer term , caesium contamination in milk, meat and forest products (wild mushrooms, berries and game) could continue to be risks.

TSF

THE TSUNAMI, EARTHQUAKE AND RADIATION IN FOOD

With the ongoing reports of increasing and spreading radioactivity from several of Japan's nuclear reactors, a lot of people are becoming worried about radioactivity in their food. Yes, it's true that radioactive material in the air can not only get into the body directly, but also indirectly, through food and drinking water. Radiation can be washed down by rain into the soil where food grows, into waters where fish live, and onto grass where cows graze.

The experts say that cow's milk, dairy foods and fresh fruits and vegetables will be especially vulnerable in this sort of situation. Those most at risk are young children and unborn babies. Radioactive materials in sufficiently large doses can cause various types of cancer and abnormalities to the fetus.

Right now, people living in Japan are of course most likely to be at risk both from direct exposure and from their food. However, it is likely that the radioactive plume will be carried to other countries as well, though with lower levels of radioactive materials.

But what about countries which import fresh and processed foods from Japan? Reuters reports that Asian nations nearby, such as India, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore and the Philippines have ordered that imported Japanese foods be tested for radioactivity. It looks like China may start to do the same.

What about nations in Europe and countries such as Russia, Britain, the U.S. and Canada? I haven't seen any reports yet, but it is likely that similar precautions will be taken. If anything is found, such imports will be banned.

In the meantime, I don't see any reason for those of us living outside Japan to worry about imported Japanese foods. We don't need to avoid eating in a Japanese restaurant either. (I have noticed that some in my neighborhood seem to be emptier than usual.) Anything from Japan that they are serving currently would have come before the recent earthquake, Tsunami and related radiation leaks (there are too many logistical problems at present for much export to take place). And as for irradiated food, it has nothing to do with irradiation.

TSF