Japanese parents alarmed over radiation in food, drinks

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Japanese mother recently reported in her blog that she paid for tests that showed low levels of radioactive caesium in milk served with school lunches, M&C reported citing DPA.

“This is the truth,” she said in her blog. “Children drink [milk] with contamination levels like this.”

Mariko lives in Kawaguchi near Tokyo, 220 kilometres south-west of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which released radioactive substances into the environment a year ago during the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

She said the government and milk producer had no intention of conducting tests to detect lower-level radioactive contamination on food and beverages served in schools so she did it herself.

The levels found from her tests, conducted this month, were below the official limit, but many parents like Mariko fear what effects the radioactive fallout from the accident is having on their children.

Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, said radiation accumulating in the body from external and internal exposure weakens the immune system and can cause problems years in the future by increasing the risks of cancer.

The fallout began with Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which hit the Fukushima plant, causing meltdowns in three of its six reactors.

Soon, high levels of radioactive contamination were found in some vegetables, milk, fish, rice, meat and tea leaves, and the government banned the shipment of those goods.

Parents remained concerned about what their children eat and drink, where they play and where they go for school trips. Their concerns were dismissed by some city officials and doctors who said they were worrying too much. Experts, however, sounded an alarm. A weakened immune system is a top concern, they said.