Sabtu, 19 Maret 2011

OMG!! Japan cites radiation in water, milk, spinach near plant


Pray for Japan; both food and water ‘radiated’. Lord have mercy!
Water:
JAPAN'S public health fears were upped today after radiation was found in Tokyo's tap water - just hours after nuclear experts raised the risk from the crippled Fukushima power plant to a deadly Level Five.
Raising the level confirms there is a high probability the public will be exposed to radiation - and in amounts that could be fatal.

It also turned the disaster from being a local problem to one "with wider consequences" and confirmed there has been significant damage to the reactor cores and the release of large amounts of radiation.
Tokyo's drinking water scare came as Japanese authorities stopped food sales in the areas around the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
More than 36million people have access to the capital's water supply - in which traces radioactive iodine have been detected.
Abnormal levels of radiation were found in the water supply in four other regions around the capital.
The levels were not said to be hazardous.
Meanwhile Japanese authorities halted all food sales in the areas around the Fukushima plant after high levels of radioactivity were found in milk and spinach in the region.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano said today: "Radiation exceeding the limit under Japanese law was detected."
The nuclear emergency at Three Mile Island power station in the US in 1979 - when melting fuel rods threatened to kill thousands across Pennsylvania - was also Level Five.
The Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine in 1986, which is estimated to have led to the deaths of thousands, was just two notches up the scale at Level Seven.
Until yesterday the threat level at Fukushima had been at Level Four.

For Food:

In the first sign that contamination from Japan's stricken nuclear complex had seeped into the food chain, officials said Saturday that radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near the tsunami-crippled facility exceeded government safety limits.
Minuscule amounts of radioactive iodine also were found in tap water in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan — although experts said none of the tests showed any health risks.
The discovery came as officials said the crisis at the nuclear plant appeared to be stabilizing, with near-constant dousing of dangerously overheated reactors and uranium fuel, but the situation was still far from resolved.
"We more or less do not expect to see anything worse than what we are seeing now," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Japan has been grappling with a cascade of disasters unleashed by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11. The quake spawned a tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeastern coast, killing more than 7,300 people and knocking out cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing the complex to leak radiation.
Nearly 11,000 people are still missing, and more than 452,000 are living in shelters.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, meanwhile, insisted the contaminated foods "pose no immediate health risk."
The tainted milk was found 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the plant, a local official said. The spinach was collected from six farms between 60 miles (100 kilometers) and 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the south of the reactors.
Those areas are rich farm country known for melons, rice and peaches, so the contamination could affect food supplies for large parts of Japan.
More tests was being done on other foods, Edano said, and if they show further contamination, then food shipments from the area would be halted.
Officials said it was too early to know if the nuclear crisis caused the contamination, but Edano said air sampling done near the dairy showed higher-than-normal radiation levels.
Iodine levels in the spinach exceeded safety limits by three to seven times, a food safety official said. Tests on the milk done Wednesday detected small amounts of iodine-131 and cesium-137, the latter being a longer-lasting element that can cause more types of cancer. But only iodine was detected Thursday and Friday, a Health Ministry official said.
After the announcements, Japanese officials immediately tried to calm an already-jittery public, saying the amounts detected were so small that people would have to consume unimaginable amounts to endanger their health.
"Can you imagine eating one kilogram of spinach every day for one year?" said State Secretary of Health Minister Yoko Komiyama. One kilogram is a little over two pounds.
Edano said someone drinking the tainted milk for one year would consume as much radiation as in a CT scan; for the spinach, it would be one-fifth of a CT scan. A CT scan is a compressed series of X-rays used for medical tests.
Masayuki Kubo, an environmental protection official in Tochigi prefecture, where the highest tap water reading was found, said the water was also safe.
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