French customs officials seize radioactive Japanese tea at border

The Voice of Russia reports that the first radioactive foodstuffs from Japan -- tea, exceeding "permissible" standards two-fold -- to be detected by French customs officials has been seized at the border and will be "destroyed" (radioactivity cannot be "destroyed" -- it will likely be dumped somewhere). The radioactively contaminated tea is reportedly from Shizuoka Prefecture, around 100 miles southwest of Tokyo, which is itself 150 miles southwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This shows that the nuclear catastrophe's hazardous radioactive fallout has travelled far from the three melted down reactor cores and boiling high-level radioactive waste storage pools.

Radioactive contamination of beef in Japan worsens

In the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe, Fukushima farmers claim that the Japanese federal and prefecture governments gave no warning or advice about how they should prevent radioactivity from contaminating their cattle, as through exposed feed. As a result, many cattle contaminated above regulatory limits have been marketed to grocery stores and restaurants.

On July 19, the Japanese federal government issued a ban on beef exports from Fukushima prefecture in an effort to stem the flow of contaminated cattle, many of which were fed contaminated rice hay in the wake of a food shortage after the disaster. Some hay measured radioactive cesium contamination at 690,000 becquerels per kilogram, while Japan’s “permissible” level is set at 300 becquerels/kg. Originally reported as 500, the number of contaminated cattle has now increased to over 1,200. Contaminated beef may have been shipped to 45 of the 47 prefectures in Japan.

Other foods, including spinach, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tea, milk, plums and fish have also been found to be contaminated with cesium and iodine, some as far as 360 kilometers (225 miles) from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi atomic reactors.

One Fukushima farmer referred to his ghost town -- that should have been a bustling farming community, but evacuated due to high levels of radioactive fallout – in terms of a “silent spring.” Rachel Carson used that very phrase as the title of her 1962 book, warning about the hazards of pesticides and radioactivity, which helped launch the environmental movement.

These stories show how difficult it is to monitor and control radioactive contamination in modern farming and food distribution systems and therefore, how difficult it is to keep people, especially children, safe from internal doses of radiation due to ingestion.  Since no dose of radiation is safe, it is advisable to not contaminate our environment in the first place.

Help protect the children of Fukushima from radioactivity by signing Green Action Japan’s petition, and help prevent a Fukushima in the U.S. by signing Beyond Nuclear’s petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calling for an immediate shut down of the 23 particularly dangerous General Electric Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors operating in this country.

"Fukushima is Worse than Chernobyl -- on Global Contamination'

In an interview with the Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus, Dr. Chris Busby of the European Committee on Radiation Risk challenges the International Commission on Radiological Protection's radiation dose methodologies, and predicts around 200,000 cancers will result over the next half century in populations within 200 km (124 miles) of the catastrophically leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Radiation Levels in Northwest Rain Were Up to 130 Times Safe Drinking Water Standards Following Fukushima

"Radiation levels in rainwater collected in Portland, Oregon on March 25, 2011 were 86.8 pCi/L for Iodine 131 (I131), amongst the highest recorded in the US after Fukushima. Rain in Olympia had even higher levels of radioactive Iodine. The Portland result was not posted by EPA until April 4.

"The maximum level of Iodine 131in rain in Olympia, WA was 125 pCi/L on March 24, which was not posted by EPA until April 4.

"Highest levels in rainwater in California were collected March 22, 2011 in Richmond, CA with levels of 138 pCi/L." Counterpunch

Beef Contamination Spreads in Japan After Fukushima Radiation Taints Straw

"More beef from cattle in Japan that ate straw tainted by radiation has found its way into the food supply, deepening concern about the safety of meat as the country struggles to contain the spread of the contamination.

"Cattle at the farm in Asakawa, about 60 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station, were fed with rice straw containing 97,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, compared with the government standard of 300 becquerels, said Hidenori Ohtani at the livestock division of the Fukushima prefectural government." Bloomberg

Update on August 2, 2011 by admin

The Mainichi Daily News reports Japanese federal government panel is poised to recommend that beef cattle farmers in 17 prefectures be compensated for price losses as high as 70% due to public fear of meat contamination due to the feeding of radioactive rice hay to livestock.

Update on August 2, 2011 by admin

The Mainichi Daily News reports that the Japanese federal government has banned beef exports from a fourth prefecture, after detection of radioactive cesium contamination due to rice hay sullied with Fukushima Daiichi fallout. The three other prefectures banned from exporting beef are Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.