Spinach with radiation 27 times higher than limit found in Japan
TOKYO, March 21, Kyodo
Spinach with radioactive iodine 27 times more than the government-regulated limit was found in the city of Hitachi in Ibaraki Prefecture, more than 100 kilometers south of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but the radiation levels do not affect human health, local authorities said Sunday.
The growing public concern over the safety of farm products prompted the government the same day to consider instructing local authorities to halt the shipment of relevant produce within a prefecture if produce made there is found containing radioactive substances at levels exceeding regulation, government sources said.
Currently, prefectural governments decide whether to ask municipalities to voluntarily halt shipment of contaminated products.
In 1 kilogram of spinach grown in open air in the city, 54,000 becquerels of iodine was detected, exceeding the 2,000 becquerel limit preliminarily set by the government under the food sanitation law, the Ibaraki prefectural government said.
The level of cesium in the spinach grown in the city was also higher at 1,931 becquerels, compared to the limit of 500 becquerels.
The level of iodine in the spinach grown in open air in Kitaibaraki city in Ibaraki, around 75 kilometers south of the nuclear plant, was 24,000 becquerels, 12 times more than the limit of 2,000 becquerels. A cesium level of 690 becquerels, 190 more than the limit, was also found in the spinach, which was taken for investigation Friday.
Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto said it will continue to ask each municipality to voluntarily halt shipments of spinach grown in the prefecture, although there is no risk to human health.
Also in Tochigi and Gunma, levels of radioactive substances exceeding the government regulation were found in spinach and another leaf vegetable, the prefectural governments said, with Gunma asking agricultural cooperatives in the prefecture to halt their shipments and recall those that have already been shipped.
Radioactive iodine and cesium were detected at twice the regulation levels in ''shungiku'' leaf vegetables brought in from Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, the Tokyo metropolitan government said, adding that 4,300 becquerels of iodine were found in the produce.
Meanwhile, iodine-contaminated raw milk was found in four municipalities, including the town of Iitate, around 35 km northwest of the nuclear plant.
Following the revelation, the Fukushima prefectural government called on all dairy farmers within the prefecture to voluntarily refrain from shipping or consuming their milk.
The local officials said the milk from these municipalities is not on the market.
On the Consumer Agency website, Renho, state minister in charge of consumer affairs and food safety, said the reported radiation levels in spinach and raw milk are ''not expected to immediately affect human health,'' and called on the public to ''act calmly.''
''I hope the public will not be confused by groundless rumors but act according to information from reliable sources,'' she said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at the press conference Sunday that the government will decide on Monday whether it will impose restrictions on shipments or intake of the spinach and milk.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said radioactive materials were found in water sampled Saturday in prefectures of Tokyo, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Niigata, while prefectural governments of Fukushima and Ibaraki said they have found the substances in tap water.
According to the ministry, 16 becquerels and 3.6 becquerels of iodine per one kilogram of water was found in Tochigi and Gunma, while Tokyo and Niigata saw 2.9 and 2.1 becquerels, but the levels were below the intake limit of 300 becquerels set by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan.
The ministry also said the levels of cesium found in one kilogram of water in Tochigi and Tokyo were 2.6 and 0.21 becquerels, against the limit of 200 becquerels.
The Fukushima prefectural government said it detected 28 becquerels of iodine in water taken at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Edano said that the detected radiation levels cannot be assumed to influence human health and there is no need to take steps to address the matter at present.
However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said it detected 965 becquerels of iodine in one kilogram of tap water in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, more than 3 times higher than the government-regulated limit, and asked the villagers not to drink tap water.
Part of the village is within a 20 to 30 kilometer radius of the crippled nuclear power plant where people have been urged by the government to stay indoors for fear of radiation leaks.
Meanwhile, the education ministry said radioactive iodine or cesium was found in precipitation and dust in Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Yamagata, Tochigi, Gunma, Iwate and Niigata prefectures in the samples collected in the 24-hour period from 9 a.m. Saturday.
The ministry said that research has already shown that radioactive materials in the air and tap water in Tokyo and other prefectures pose no threat to human health.
The amount of iodine detected in Tochigi was 540 megabecquerels per square kilometer, 190 megabecquerels in Gunma and 40 megabecquerels in Tokyo. The amount of cesium was 45 megabecquerels per square kilometer in Tochigi and 63 megabecquerels in Gunma.
In a related event, the transport ministry has decided to make public radiation levels detected at Narita and Haneda airports on its website, in efforts to stress safety as some foreign airlines have been refraining from using Narita airport, located in Chiba.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, showers of 10 to 20 millimeters in a 24-hour period through late Monday are expected in the area where the nuclear power plant is located.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said there would be no effect to human health even if humans are exposed to small amounts of the rain, given the current radioactivity level but, as a precaution, people should avoid getting wet by the rain.
The headquarters of the government's nuclear-disaster prevention task force in Fukushima has instructed Fukushima prefectural government and local municipalities to give out nonradioactive iodine pills to those who fled areas within a 20-km radius of the troubled power plant.