BBC News is reporting today, that Japan plans to ban Fukushima beef: Retailers have already bought contaminated beef from Fukushima
Japan's government is set to suspend all cattle shipments from Fukushima as concerns over radiation-tainted beef escalate. Senior Vice Health Minister, Kohei Otsuka, said beef from surrounding areas may also be affected. It comes after 136 cows were found to have consumed feed affected by radioactive cesium. ...
"The most likely outcome is that we will ban beef shipments," said Goshi Hosono, the cabinet minister responsible for the nuclear cleanup.
"We have to ensure food safety."...
So far, this story has escalated every day this week.
Increasing numbers of cows have been found to have consumed rice straw containing high levels of radioactive cesium.
Distributors across the country have bought meat from exposed cows and some of it could have already reached consumers.
A major supermarket chain Aeon said that hundreds of kilos of the beef has been sold at 14 of its stores in Tokyo and the surrounding areas.
The retailer said it would start to check beef shipments from all areas for contamination. ...
The initial discovery of contaminated beef was traced back to farms near the Fukushima power plant, but more recent discoveries are from farms as far as 100 kilometers away.
Radiation in food will be a problem for a long time. Cesium 137 has a half life of 30 years. And, a fairly wide region in northern Japan shows some evidence of contamination.
UPDATE: Joieau has pointed out that this next sentence in my original article is problamatic: I was trying to balance concern with alarmism, but I did a terrible job of it and apoligize. Joieau is correct that consumers have the right to reject extra radiation in their food at any level. Which was the point I was trying to make but tripped over my own feet here. Sorry. I live it here in brackets, so her comments, make sense below.
(The levels found in food so far, are not really high, however, the Japanese people are learning that unnecessary radiation should be avoided. ) (When, I said "really" I meant astronomical. I was not trying to diminish the concerns of the Japanese people. Thanks Joieau for catching this. )
The widely accepted Linear No-Threshold Model indicated a linear dose-response curve. The levels designated as "safe" represent a trade-off analysis by experts, given background radiation levels for different regions.
This is very sad, and stressful for the people of Japan. Our sympathies, hearts and best wishes recovery, go out to all the people of Japan.
Sun Jul 17, 2011 at 9:48 PM PT:
These three graphics add supplemential information to this story. The third graphic shows that the Japanese government is claiming that the dose reponse curve for cancers caused by radiation, magically goes to zero at the precise dose they declare is safe. A number they have redefined several times.
The prevailing scietific view, is that no does is absolutely safe, but that there needs to be a risk-benefit calculation to enable us to make decisions about getting needed x-rays, or to fly in an airplane. Things I've done and do not regret.
But, we should not get any more unnecessary radiation than we can help.