Radiation Food in Food & Soil Near Japanese Reactors. Is it Safe?

The big news today from Japan is that radioactive Stronium has been found in food and soil samples just outside of the 30 kilometer (18 mile) exclusion zone near the Fukushima nuclear reactors.


So the question is: Since radiation has been found in food, how dangerous is that to us? Is it safe?

Yahoo Japan

放射性ストロンチウムを検出＝原発30キロ外、福島6市町村―文科省

時事通信 4月13日(水)0時44分配信

　福島第1原発の事故で、文部科学省は12日、福島県でサンプル調査をした結果、土壌と植物から放射性ストロンチウム89と90が検出されたと発表した。同省によると、事故をめぐりストロンチウムが検出されたのは初。
同省は3月16～17日、第1原発の30キロ圏からやや外にある福島県浪江町の2カ所と飯舘村の1カ所で採取した土壌を分析。1キロ当たりストロンチウム89が最大260ベクレル、同90が最大32ベクレルだった。
大玉村、本宮市、小野町、西郷村で19日に採取された植物も分析。1キロ当たりストロンチウム89が最大61ベクレル、同90が最大5．9ベクレルだった。サンプルの植物は食用野菜ではないという。
ストロンチウムは、カルシウムと似た性質を持ち、人体に入ると骨に沈着し、骨髄腫や造血器に障害を引き起こす恐れがある。ストロンチウム90は半減期が約29年と長く、過去の核実験の際に飛散し問題となった。同89は半減期が約50日。

Translation:


Two types of radioactive strontium have been detected in soil tests just outside of the 30 kilometer (18 mile) nuclear exclusion zone near the crippled reactors in Fukushima.


On Monday, Japan's Ministry of Education announced the results of sample surveys on soil and plants in Fukushima Prefecture, saying that Stronium-89 and Stronium-90 have been detected in the samples taken. 


Samples were taken for analysis between March 16th to 17th. One set of samples were collected from Iidate in Namie-Cho in Fukushima Prefecture, just outside of the 30-kilometer exclusion zone. Those samples showed Strontium-89 up to 260 becquerels per kilogram, and Stronium-90 was detected at 32 becquerels.

Samples of 19 plants were also taken from Ootama village, Ono-machi, and Saigo village. In those samples, Strontium-89 was detected up to 61 becquerels per kilogram, and Strontium-90 was detected up to 5.9 becquerels. 


Strontium has properties similar to human bone tissue and when deposited into the body in large amounts, can cause myeloma and hematopoietic failure. Strontium-90 has a long half-life of about 29 years, which was discovered during nuclear testing and Strontium-89 has a half-life of about 50 days.


Extra information: 


The considered safe level for radiation is 300 becquerels per kilogram. For a comparison, see this chart:

View chart online here


Becquerels—a measure that represents one radioactive event per second—per kilogram.

Reality - Becquerel (Bq)

The unit of measurement for radioactivity. An activity of one Bq means that one decay takes place per second. [Nothing to do with kg.]

　

What to do? Well, I suggest not buying fruits and vegetables from the affected areas (which you can't do as they've been blocked for sale). But, either way, washing your vegetables well is always a good idea (pesticides are dangerous too!)

Meanwhile, the panic continues while the world over millions suffer and many die from asthma and other problems caused by filthy fossil fuels.

The greatest threats from nuclear power is panic, and our society reduced to poverty by running out of cheap, clean, safe power.


From this recent news and Fukushima being raised to a level seven disaster, I've been getting lots of mail from the Peanut Gallery that claims this new information justifies the gaijin panic and flight out of Japan. Sorry, I couldn't disagree more.

For those Flyjin foreigners and those Japanese in Tokyo who panicked and fled who think that this now justifies your running away in a panic from Tokyo mid-March, think again. 

For one, if this being used to justify your running away, then with this evidence, why are you back in Tokyo? If new information somehow justifies your past actions, then it stands to reason that - if you didn't panic as you claim - this new information will see you at Narita airport first thing tomorrow am. 


A deeper examination shows, if anything, this new evidence proves you panicked and ran away - without any rational reason to do so at all - if, upon examination of this new information, that you decide to stay here anyway. 


For you foreigners and Tokyoite Japanese who ran away - and are still outside of Japan - then, please, stay there. Stay away. Don't come back to Japan. Fukushima is now a level seven. The food is radioactive. It's too dangerous! We're doomed!

I've said it over and over; things are bad for the poor folks who suffered from the earthquake and the tsunami then the nuclear accident. But those people are in Tohoku region (northern Japan). If you were living there in the affected areas, then no one will criticize you for leaving there.

But you foreigners and Japanese in Tokyo (230 kilometers away - about 150 miles from Fukushima crippled nuclear reactors) and those in Nagoya (680 kilometers - about 400 miles from Fukushima) - who panicked and ran away and left their neighbors, co-workers and friends hanging, you deserve all the criticism you get.

Only a person without any pride, self-respect or dignity would run away and leave their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and those people's children alone in their time of need. 

What goes around, comes around. Karma can be a bitch. When you are in trouble, how will you feel if you get abandoned by people who fly into an irrational panic? 

Want to compare this problem with McDonald's? Good idea!

For those of you who stayed here. Thanks... Don't forget to wash your fruits and vegetables well... And take my little tip: Besides washing, peeling is the best way to remove pesticides, poisons and radiation from food. Try it. I always do. 


Oh, and if you want to eat healthy... Stop the fast food.

No Scientific or Medical Basis for Restrictions on Japan Travel & More

Once again, let's deal with just the facts concerning the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan. 

The fact of the matter is, folks, that there are too many pundits writing sensationalism about subjects they are not expert in and scaring people. I am not a nuclear power expert but I am an expert in mass media and know a BS story when I see one. And I've seen lots of them in these last 10 years or so: Swine Flu, SARS, Bird Flu, Man Made Global Warming. These mass media cretins pronounce this stuff as gospel truth, interjecting their scare tactic with words like, "might," may have," "could have"... etc. When it is all total conjecture and doesn't deserve to be on the pages of "respectable" media but rather on the pages of tabloid sensationalism. As Tech Crunch aptly put it:

This is all just going to get worse, because, increasingly, all stories are tech stories. Politics? Obama’s staggering online fundraising. Sports? BALCO and high-tech new equipment. Culture? These days, even fine art is all about the Arduino. Technology has insinuated itself into our lives to such an extent that every story now has a technical aspect — but yesterday’s dinosaur journalists will continue to write about them in the same clumsy-to-moronic way that they wrote about Fukushima.

Searching for more factual reporting from a reputable source about the safety of Japan. I found this: In an official public announcement from the International Maritime Organization, in spite of the scaremongering and sensationalism reported in the mainstream mass media (MSM) there is no basis for any medical restrictions to and from Japan regarding radiation or any other problems:


No Restrictions on Travel to Japan


International flight and maritime operations can continue normally into and out of Japan’s major airports and sea ports, excluding those damaged by the tsunami, according to the latest information available from the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. 

While there is currently no medical basis for imposing restrictions, the United Nations organizations are monitoring the situation closely and will advise of any changes.  

Screening for radiation of international passengers from Japan is not considered necessary at this time. Currently available information indicates that increased levels have been detected at some airports, but these do not represent any health risk. 

The page has a link to the World Health Organization's site. The link is broken. I searched, Japan Nuclear Concerns and found this FAQ page:

What is the current risk of radiation-related health problems in Japan for those residing near the reactor in comparison to those in other parts of Japan?

• Radiation-related health consequences will depend on exposure, which is dependant on several things, including: the amount and type of radiation released from the reactor; weather conditions, such as wind and rain; a person’s proximity to the plant; and the amount of time spent in irradiated areas.
• The Government of Japan’s recent actions in response to events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are in line with the existing recommendations for radiation exposure. The Government has evacuated individuals who were living within a 20-kilometre radius around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Those living between 20 km and 30 km from the plant are being asked to shelter indoors. People living farther away are at lower risk than those who live nearby.
• As and if the situation changes, the Government of Japan may change their advice to the public; WHO is following the situation closely.

In short, the risk near the reactor exists. The exclusion zone of 20 km ~ 30 km (12 miles ~ 18 miles) are in line with existing recommendations for radiation exposure. Once again, Tokyo is about 150 miles away. Common sense should prevail in helping you to avoid any risk. The article goes on to talk about food contamination:

  

Is there a risk of radioactive exposure from food contamination?

• Yes, there is a risk of exposure as a result of contamination in food.
• However, contaminated food would have to be consumed over prolonged periods to represent a risk to human health.
• The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial food monitoring results show radioactive iodine detected in concentrations above Japanese regulatory limits. Radioactive caesium has also been detected.
• Local government authorities have advised residents to avoid these food and have implemented measures to prevent their sale and distribution.

The last two bullet points are important here. The final one says that the government has blocked sales of these foods and prevented their distribution. Translation: You can't buy this stuff legally, so if you don't eat it, there's no problem.


People worried about food safety are advised to search the USA Food & Drug Administrations sites about how many parts per million of rat excrement and bug parts are allowed in our food... You also won't ever want to eat out at a restaurant if you are worried about getting sick from your food either... Trust me, I worked at a restaurant when I was 18 years old. 


Reuters reports Deaths From Food Poisoning Under Reported


The Centers for Disease Control (CRC) in the United States estimate that about 5,200 people there die each year from food poisoning but the Danish researchers believe the true figure could be nearly twice as high.


Also, this delectable article on the FDA:  


An eruption at the Peanut Corporation of America led to at least 9 reported deaths, hundreds of diseases and a huge recall of product. Recently, bagged spinach, tomatoes, jalapenos and raw cookie dough have been linked with food borne diseases. For food safety, people have to follow the guidelines which are given by FDA. 


There's millions of articles like this available for anyone who wishes to do a Google search. Salmonella kills over 1,000 people a year alone in the USA. Deaths from eating radiated spinach or milk in Japan? Zero. 


Trust that this irradiated food has been destroyed and will never reach the market. Your chance of eating it and dying from it are about as high as your chances of winning the lottery. Once again, this is a non-story being inflated by an increasingly desperate mass media. 

HENRY ROLLINS - LIAR

You can read more from a technical publication that blasts this mass media sensationalism in: UK Tech Publication Blasts Sensationalist Reporting on Nuclear Reactor:


The situation at the quake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in Japan was brought under control days ago. It remains the case as this is written that there have been no measurable radiological health consequences among workers at the plant or anybody else, and all indications are that this will remain the case. And yet media outlets around the world continue with desperate, increasingly hysterical and unscrupulous attempts to frame the situation as a crisis.


Crisis? Up north for the poor folks in Miyagi and Fukushima, yes. For us in Tokyo? No. Merely an inconvenience in spite of how much people want to believe the sensationalist shrill... 


Next up, killer flu coming to a neighborhood near you. 

Be Prepared - An Investment Better than Gold?

Now it's been two weeks since the big earthquake. So many people panicked and had no food or water. I find that astounding. This gives me a good opportunity to rerun a story that I wrote a while back on basic common sense preparation for natural and economic disasters. I was very prepared. I have several months of food, water and supplies stored up.


An Investment Better than Gold?

I live in Japan with my wife and son. Japan is a country that often has earthquakes. Sometimes these earthquakes are pretty big. The standard thinking on earthquakes here is that if there is a big earthquake, like the one we had in 1923, a family of four needs to have at least three days of water and enough food stored up in order to survive. Three days!? You mean to tell me that if we have a huge earthquake and the water mains are all broken, the sky is falling, the buildings all collapse, Tokyo burns to the ground, and you expect me to believe that the gorilla's running the government could fix the water mains in only three days and get things back on their feet? Heck, under normal conditions, it takes these clowns 10 men and 3 days to fix some potholes in the road so I think it would take them at least a month to fix underground water pipes and get the mystery fizz back to its old self. Three days? Get real.

We also live next to a country that has nuclear weapons and the local government takes every opportunity to scare us and show us what a lunatic Kim Jong Il is so it is wise to store up enough vittles and water in case that other nut-case you folks have in the Whitehouse decides to start a war with them. In which case, you'll need enough water and stuff to get you through nuclear winter long enough to be able to stand your skin melting off. I figure that would be about two weeks.

Throw on top of all these goodies the Wall Street and Nikkei meltdown going on right now and you have the right recipe for some smart person to invest in gold. Gold! Yes, my friends, gold! That's the ticket. If my money is going to be useless, then I'm buying tons of gold! We're in the money! We're in the money!

What? How's that? Gold has already surpassed a $1000 dollars and ounce? Gee, that throws a crimp in my plans. I don't really have that much money in my pants at the moment. I guess it must be in my other pair. Or, if I don't have it, I'll just mosey on down to the local bank and withdraw the cash necessary to buy a few grams of gold.

How's that? A huge line at the bank? Banks closed? Can't withdraw my millions? Oh well. Stay positive.... As Hamlet once said, "Best laid plans of mice and men." Er, not Hamlet, but Steinbeck? Don't confuse me with the facts.

Okay. Let's face some ugly truths. We're messed up big time. You are like me: We have no gold. We have no money. We're in big trouble. What to do?

Time to get serious and get off our arses and do something about this situation. Here's what I did (I'm trying to be serious here). Buy enough food, water, and toilet paper to last about two months. Really.

Last week Tuesday, the wife and I really got off our rears and we spent about $800 dollars on canned groceries and water. That was $800 at last Tuesday's prices. The way the dollar has gone since then, I figure we saved at least $100. Sweet!

Do yourselves a favor and go out and buy some water and canned food. I'm not kidding about the toilet paper either. You don't want to be rubbing your buns with old newspapers. Buy only canned food that you would normally eat so that you won't have a bunch of stuff you don't like that you have to scarf down just because the expiration date is coming up.

We have two adults and one four-year-old so we bought about 50 gallons of water with expiration dates of October, 2010. Six cases of canned tuna (108 tins per case), three cases of canned whole tomatoes (24 cans per case), six cases of canned corn (my kid eats canned corn like crazy), 24 tins of Sardines, 10 packages of crackers, 120 cans of Campbell's canned soup, 100 cans of Corned Beef, three cases of Refried Beans, 108 rolls of toilet paper, several gallons of vodka — in case of the end of the world, got to have that (there'll be nothing else to do), as well as medical supplies and antiseptic, my usual daily medicine, and a can opener, lighters, candles, batteries, and Sterno.

Yes, I can't afford gold, but I can't eat it either. I figure that this is the poor-man's disaster hedge fund. If the bank's close, or if the ship hits the fan, I'll be okay for at least two months.

Seems like a smart deal and a good way to get prepared for the coming troubles. While everyone is freaking out, I'll be enjoying booze and Sardines on crackers for at least a little while....

Heck, being prepared and having everything I need to "camp out" for a few months while the economy dies actually gives me something to look forward to.... It also makes me rest a little easier.

NOTE: It was a great relief to me during the height of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent Nuclear accident to have planned beforehand and to have been well-prepared. Follow this advice and at least store up 2 weeks of supplies for you and yours. You'll be very glad you did.

This article originally ran on Lew Rockwell on March 18, 2008

The Great Tokyo Food and Water Panic of 2011 Begins?

I think we could be seeing the beginning of a great panic in Japan that hasn't been seen since the oil shock of 1979: People fighting for groceries and water. I saw it this morning at the grocery store.

R.E.M. - THE END OF THE WORLD

It wasn't a full-fledged panic, but it is awful close. If we keep having big after shocks like we did just ten minutes ago and the problems at the nuclear power plants do not get under control, and things do not calm down then the panics will definitely come. I was here on vacation in 1979 and remember the oil shock panic back then.


No toilet paper, no water. Same as now.

It wasn't just the grocery store either. The Nikkei 225 has dropped like a rock since morning trading but recovered slightly to 450.15 as of this very moment. 

UPDATE: The Nikkei 225 ended the day down ¥633.94 (- 6.18%)

to finish at ¥9,620.49 

Because the of after-effects of the earthquake and the resulting damage to the two nuclear reactors in Fukushima, certain areas of Japan will be experiencing daily blackouts.


It was suddenly announced this morning that this immediate area that I am in now (Setagaya-Ku in Tokyo) will experience a blackout starting at 1 pm today until 4 pm. This morning I was about 60 kilometers away (about 30 miles) in Isehara, Kanagawa prefecture. We left Kanagawa because they were experiencing a blackout and I thought we'd take our chances back home.


We got back just in time for the blackout to be announced here.

No water... They do have Pepsi Zero, though!

My home is concrete and we have a basement, so it is a very safe place. Not to mention that I also have more than six months of food, water and paper products stored up down there in case of emergencies. I've written many times before about why you should do the same.


Usually, every week, like clockwork, I go to the local grocery super-store on Monday morning and get there just before opening time in order to stock up on groceries. I take Gary North's great advice that "Time is the only non renewable resource" so I don't waste time in long lines. Usually, on Monday mornings, I'm one of the first ones in the store and one of the first ones out. 

Toilet Paper? You can see the last 8 or so packs to the left.

They won't be there in 2 more minutes.

Since I knew that these blackouts might occur, I decided to go buy some extra water (even though I have more than 200 liters (about 52 gallons) stored up, I figured a few extra couldn't hurt. I had read on the Internet that "millions of people in Northern Japan" didn't have any drinking water and that concerned me too.


When I got to the grocery store, I was so surprised by what I saw; there were cars lined up all the way down the block to get into the store parking lots and it was 20 minutes before opening time! People trying to drive their cars into the parking lots were honking and yelling at each other and jockeying for position.

No bottled anything

People were lined up at the elevators so I walked up the stairs and entered the second floor. There, too, people were lined up 100 deep to enter the store. At that moment, there was a palatable tension in the air. People looked really nervous. I asked one lady what everyone was lining up for and she told me that, because of the blackouts, people were going to stock up on water and canned goods.


As we quietly stood in line, people began to slowly shove forward as opening time approached. Suddenly, an older man at the front of the line angrily yelled to the store staff, "They have already opened the doors on the third floor! Why aren't you opening the doors?"


With that the flood gates broke. There was a rush of panicking people who pushed past the chained entrance. People were pushing their shopping carts and running for the canned goods and water section. I wanted to take photos of this so I ran too. Too late. I got to the water section and could only see an older man and a younger man fighting over the final six pack of 500 ml. pet bottles of water. By the time my iPhone had powered up, they were long gone.

Frozen food rack

The shelves were empty. Bare as the desert. I gathered that there must have been a similar scene last night.   


I walked upstairs to the fruit and vegetable section. The scene there was not as bad but I could tell that they were going to sell out of everything edible easily before noon.  Don't forget, folks, this is a grocery super-store, much like a Ralph's grocery store you have in America. It's huge.


It's a big deal when one of these places sell out of food.


When I returned home, I saw my next door neighbor. I asked her if she had been grocery shopping yesterday. She said, "Yes! At the smaller grocery store just up the street, it was like people were panicking!"


I'd agree. But, this is Tokyo. The earthquake was 200 miles away. How could a 3 or 4 hour power blackout cause people to get into a near panic like this?


Oh, yes. I forgot. People have been watching TV. Thank you, once again, television station for your sensationalism in broadcasting. You do us all a great favor when you scare everyone with this sensationalism. Anyone care to remember Swine Flu, SARS, Bird Flu, Etc.? They were all horrible deadly epidemics that were going to surely kill us all... Well, at least they were horrible deadly epidemics that were going to surely kill us all - on TV! 

Less than 20 minutes after opening time the lines were 

over 50 carts deep - and this at a place that has 10 registers!

If things don't get under control here, the panic could start full blast and things could get very ugly quickly. This year could be remembered as the great Tokyo or Japan Panic of 2011.