Latest on Radioactive Food and Water in Japan

NEWS ADVISORY: Spinach with radioactive iodine 12 times regulated level found in Ibaraki

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First they say it's safe to eat, now this.

12 times the safe limit! This is only the beginning.

Taiwan finds radiation on imported Japanese beans

A Taiwanese official says radiation has been detected on fava beans imported from Japan but the amount is too small to harm human health. It's the first case of radiation found on Japanese imports amid a crisis at a nuclear power plant damaged by an earthquake and tsunami a week ago.

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# NEWS ADVISORY: Radioactive substance detected in 'shungiku' leaf vegetable in Chiba (22:45)

# NEWS ADVISORY: Spinach from Tochigi Pref. detected with high radioactive substance (22:32)

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Spinach with radiation 27 times higher than limit found in Japan

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.

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 set by the government's preliminary regulation under the food sanitation law, the Ibaraki prefectural government said.

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Hmm...

In Hitachi city they have now found spinach with radioactive iodine 27 times higher than the government-regulated limit. This is starting to look worse and worse.

Traces of radioactive iodine found in tap water in Tokyo, other areas

Slight amounts of radioactive iodine have been detected in tap water in Tokyo, its vicinity and most prefectures neighboring Fukushima, apparently due to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the government said Saturday. While the substance was found in Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata, Chiba and Saitama prefectures as well as Tokyo, traces of cesium have also been found in tap water in Tochigi and Gunma, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said, adding the levels would not affect human health even if ingested. Tochigi, Gunma and Niigata prefectures border Fukushima Prefecture.

The ministry said 77 becquerels of iodine was found per kilogram of water in Tochigi, 2.5 becquerels in Gunma, 0.62 becquerels in Saitama, 0.79 becquerels in Chiba, 1.5 becquerels in Tokyo and 0.27 becquerels in Niigata. The amount of cesium per kilogram of water was 1.6 becquerels in Tochigi and 0.22 in Gunma, it added.

In Maebashi, Gunma, 2.5 becquerels of iodine and 0.38 becquerel of cesium were detected Friday per kilogram of water, the prefectural government said, adding it is the first time that the substances have been detected since it began testing tap water for radioactive materials in 1990.

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will we even be alerted if any of this enters the U.S.? probably not if obama could have his way

I'm worried about the cesium-137 more than anything. The levels in the spinach are 1931 becquerels and 500 becquerels is the norm.

1931 Bq(becquerels) = .052 μCi(microcuries)

3800μCi is lethal to a dog in three weeks. .052μCi doesn't seem that bad really until you think of the consequences of injesting it over years. The UK food supply is still being effected from the cesium released by Chernobyl 20+ years ago.

After two decades, the legacy of the Chernobyl disaster is still casting its poisonous shadow over Britain's countryside. The Department of Health has admitted that more than 200,000 sheep are grazing on land contaminated by fallout from the explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear plant 1,500 miles away. Emergency orders still apply to 355 Welsh farms, 11 in Scotland and nine in England as a result of the catastrophe in April 1986.

Chernobyl: A poisonous legacy