Japan cites radiation in milk, spinach near plant

Posted: 29 Mar 2011 03:33 AM PDT

ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press, SHINO YUASA, Associated Press
Updated 01:11 p.m., Sunday, March 20, 2011

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — 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 Friday in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan — although experts said none of those tests showed any health risks. The Health Ministry also said that radioactive iodine slightly above government safety limits was found in drinking water at one point Thursday in a sampling from Fukushima prefecture, the site of the nuclear plant, but later tests showed the level had fallen again.

Six workers trying to bring the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant back under control were exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation — Japan's normal limit for those involved in emergency operations, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the complex. The government raised that limit to 250 millisieverts on Tuesday as the crisis escalated.

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 7,600 people and knocking out cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing the complex to leak radiation.

More than 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 most troubling thing to me is the fear that's out of proportion to the risk," said Dr. Henry Duval Royal, a radiologist at Washington University Medical School.

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.

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.

Yuasa reported from Tokyo, as did Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi, Elaine Kurtenbach, Tim Sullivan, Joji Sakurai, and Jeff Donn.

Read more: 
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Japan-cites-radiation-in-milk-spinach-near-plant-1180491.php#ixzz1HOGDyPnK

Leuren Moret, Depleted Uranium Contamination

http://www.consciousmedianetwork.com/members/lmoret.htm

Leuren Moret Depleted Uranium Contamination
(Running time = 54 mins)

After working for 5 years at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and 2 years at the Livermore nuclear weapons lab, Leuren Moret left Livermore and now dedicates her life to revealing and understanding the actual health effects of radiation exposure.

Leuren contributed to a scientific report on depleted uranium to advise the United Nations' subcommission investigating the illegality of depleted uranium munitions. She has also worked extensively with indigenous people contaminated by radiation from the nuclear weapons program, communities in the US and other countries exposed to radiation from related activities, and communities impacted by radiation from nuclear power plants.

Currently Leuren is helping educate the governments and peoples of the world regarding the dangers of depleted uranium being used in the occupation of Iraq, and the very real possibility that this us is in fact a war crime. With graphic photographs and scientific facts, Leuren drives home the terrible effects of this kind of nuclear war in her presentations.

Leuren also testified in June of 2003 in Japan as an expert on depleted uranium at a public hearing for the international war crimes tribunal, trying President Bush for war crimes in Afghanistan. She is active in a tribunal trying him for war crimes in the U.S. military action in Iraq.

In an article about Depleted Uranium dust Laruen writes, "Exposure pathways for depleted uranium can be through the skin, by inhalation, and ingestion. Nano-particles have high mobility and can easily enter the body. Inhalation of nano-particles of depleted uranium is the most hazardous exposure, because the particles pass through the lung-blood barrier directly into the blood."

"When inhaled through the nose, nano-particles can cross the olfactory bulb directly into the brain through the blood brain barrier, where they migrate all through the brain," she wrote. "Many Gulf era soldiers exposed to depleted uranium have been diagnosed with brain tumors, brain damage and impaired thought processes. Uranium can interfere with the mitochondria, which provide energy for the nerve processes, and transmittal of the nerve signal across synapses in the brain.

Read these article links for more information:

Depleted Uranium Contaminates Europe

Letter from Lauren Moret to Rep. Jim McDermott.

Depleted Uranium Dust.

WHY the Stryker Brigade must not stay in Hawaii!

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

DEPLETED URANIUM Outrage is Sweeping Hawai’i‏

Lindafaye Kroll The inhabitants and the land of the Marshall Islands and the Bikini Islands were poisoned in the forties due to nuclear testing. Look at Kaho’olawe, still polluted despite over $400 million in cleanup efforts.

“The Strykers and the legacy they would leave are not welcome on Hawai’i.” Krisztine Samu is an outraged Hawai’i resident and tells the Army so during public testimony at the U.S. Army Stryker Brigade Public Hearings in Waimea, on September 26, 2007. She is outraged by the military’s shameless and continued contamination of her home, Hawai’i Island… Please help us Protect Hawai’i. Write the Army before October 30, 2007. Army at: PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil No Stryker Brigade build-up in Hawai’i. Clean-up all live-fire artillery ranges. Cc comments to tenfingers10toes@protecthawaii.ws This statement written by Krisztine Samu and is reprinted with permission and submitted by Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN as follows… PLEASE accept my statement of OPPOSITION to the presence of the Stryker Brigade on the island of Hawai’i. Being familiar with the U.S. military’s legacy in the Pacific Islands, there is no reason to expect anything different this time. The inhabitants and the land of the Marshall Islands and the Bikini Islands were poisoned in the forties due to nuclear testing. Look at Kaho’olawe, still polluted despite over $400 million in cleanup efforts. Look at the Vieques Puerto Rico where the bombing practice resulted in a bomb being dropped on a civilian by mistake; the Navy was eventually forced to leave due to public opposition. DEPLETED URANIUM contamination is comfirmed at Schofield Barracks, Oahu and at Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawai’i Island. The Army has admitted the presence of this toxin, and further training/detonations will simply stir more of this dust into the air, blow it downwind into Kona with serious health implications for residents and soldiers alike. Kona already has higher than normal rates of cancer, diabetes and birth defects. We cannot allow the Strykers to aggravate the situation any further. We need cleanup, not buildup. Private citizens on the island of Hawai’i are independently monitoring airborne radioactivity spikes and this will continue in an even greater capacity if the Strykers are stationed here. If the radioactive spikes continue the citizens will surely not stand for it. We can guarantee a grave media backlash and local activism to stop the destruction. The Strykers and the legacy they would leave are not welcome on Hawai’i. Krisztina Samu Hawi, Hawai’i READ WHY the Stryker Brigade must not stay in Hawaii! Ten Reasons to Oppose the Stryker Brigade in Hawaii http://www.dmzhawaii.org/stop_stryker_hawaii.pdf Army Regulation AR 700-48 “Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities,” Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., September 2002, Section 2-4 of United States Army Regulation 700-48 dated Sept. 16, 2002, specifies these requirements. http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_pam_700-48.pdf Hawaiian Islands Are Radioactive http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/893755.shtml Depleted Uranium Contamination By Strykers In Hawaii http://www.indymedia.org/it/2007/09/893176.shtml Death By Breath http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/10/893823.shtml Hawaiian Islands Contaminated With Ballistic Uranium http://www.rense.com/general78/hawa.htm Army’s Environmental Impact Statement for the Stryker Brigade Invasion of Hawaii: http://www.sbct-seis.org/ Go to Demilitarize Hawaii website: http://www.dmzhawaii.org Go to Protect Hawaii website: http://www.protecthawaii.ws/