The Japanese health ministry announced on Saturday that elevated levels of radiation were detected in milk from a farm about 18 miles from the country’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Spinach grown about 90 miles away was also found to have abnormal amounts of the material, called iodine-131.
The power plant was badly damaged from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Northeast Japan on March 11th, and it has been leaking radioactive material as emergency crews try to prevent large-scale nuclear disaster. Tiny amounts of radiation have also been found in tap water in Maebashi, 62 miles north of Tokyo.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the sale of all food products from Fukushima prefecture had been halted for further testing. But although the amounts of iodine-131 detected in the milk and spinach were beyond the limits set by Japanese law, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Monday that the products were safe for consumption. “It should be stressed that short-term exposure to levels of radiation seen with the contaminated spinach will pose no short-term health risk,” said WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley. “The same with the milk, it doesn’t pose a health risk.” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano claimed that if a person drank the contaminated milk every day for a year, total radiation exposure would be roughly equivalent to a single CT scan, and that a year’s consumption of the spinach in question would equal the radioactivity of one-fifth of a CT scan.
But even just the perception of contamination threatens to worsen the economic impact of the disaster to Japan’s already declining farming industry. “This will be a huge blow to dairy farms all over Fukushima,” said Yukimitsu Sato, a spokesman for a Fukushima dairy farm cooperative. Japan imports nearly 18 times morefood than it exports, and if fears of contamination continue the country may become even more dependent on imports. The Tokyo Electric Power Company—in charge of the damaged nuclear plant—said that it wasprepared to compensate farmers for their losses at a news conference Saturday.
To read more about disaster affecting agriculture see: Thirteen Years of Genetic Cataloguing Lost at Egyptian Deserts Gene Bank, Battling the Drought: An Interview with Philippe Conraud, Soaring Food Prices Raise Global Security Concerns, and Food Riots Return as Global Food Prices Reach Record High.
Guest Post by Matt Styslinger, who is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet Project.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
