Japan hastily sets seafood radioactivity limit amid overseas concern

[flamingdem]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/83330.html

Sushi anyone?

TOKYO, April 5, Kyodo

Japan hastily set a legal limit Tuesday for the permitted level of radioactive iodine in seafood as safety concerns spread overseas in the wake of continuing leaks contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The limit of 2,000 bequerels per kilogram set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for radioactive iodine in marine products such as fish and shellfish is the same as that already adopted for vegetables, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a press conference.

Concern is growing about seawater contamination and the safety of seafood as Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima power plant, has begun dumping water containing a relatively low level of radioactive materials into the sea as it struggles to contain highly contaminated water at the complex.

Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Japan has been making utmost efforts to minimize contamination in line with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, pledging to fully inform the international community of Tokyo's steps to tackle the ongoing nuclear crisis amid concern among neighboring countries about the spread of radiation.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. This thing is such a clusterfuck, it's not even imaginable.

At some point, even the nuclear power shills are going to stop yammering.

[flamingdem]

2. I'm not too comfortable in the slow kill implied by allowable amounts

of utterly deadly radiation in food!

What will the Japanese eat? Maybe aquaculture will flourish.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Unfortunately, I suspect the plan is to obfuscate as long as possible

and then 5, 10, 20 years down the road when increases in everything from bone cancer to leukemia start showing up, know what the response from the "authorities" will be?

Of course you do.

"Prove It".

:mad:

[Ghost Dog]

5. That has always been the line governments and industry have planned to take.

I saw it with my own eyes in written documents on official UK policy back in the 'seventies.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Rice Paddies are Also Covered With Rubble and Toxic Waste

Even without the radiation issues, Japan has lost much of its ability to produce food.