Japan's radiation food scare ripples around the world

March 23, 2011 - 10:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japan's radiation food scare rippled around the world Wednesday, March 23, as the United States blocked imports of dairy and other produce from areas near a disaster-hit nuclear power plant. Emergency crews again battled to stabilise reactors at the charred Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) plant, which was shattered on March 11 by Japan's worst natural disaster in nearly a century, to prevent a full reactor meltdown.

Japan ordered a halt to consumption and shipments of a range of farm products grown near the quake- and tsunami-hit facility after health ministry tests found vastly elevated levels of iodine and caesium.

The United States restricted dairy and vegetable imports from several prefectures, and France called on the European Union to do the same, while Japan was also testing seawater to measure the impact on marine life.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered a stop of shipments of untreated milk and vegetables including broccoli, cabbage and parsley from areas near the Pacific coast plant, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

Farm produce shipments were halted from Fukushima and three nearby prefectures -- Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma -- while radiation monitoring of farm and seafood products was stepped up in six others, officials said.

The new inspection zone extends from Yamagata in the northwest to Saitama and Chiba, which both border Tokyo and are part of the megacity's vast urban sprawl.

The health ministry said radioactivity drastically exceeding legal limits had been found in 11 kinds of vegetable grown in Fukushima prefecture.

Radioactive caesium at 82,000 becquerels - 164 times the legal limit - was detected in one type of leaf vegetable, along with 15,000 becquerels of radioactive iodine, more than seven times the limit.

The ministry said that if people eat 100 grams (four ounces) a day of the vegetable for about 10 days, they would ingest half the amount of radiation typically received from the natural environment in a year, AFP reports.