Radioactivity in Food: "There is No Safe Level of Radionuclide Exposure, Whether From Food, Water o

Source

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) expressed concern over recent reports that radioactivity from the ongoing Fukushima accident is present in the Japanese food supply. While all food contains radionuclides, whether from natural sources, nuclear testing or otherwise, the increased levels found in Japanese spinach and milk pose health risks to the population. PSR also expressed alarm over the level of misinformation circulating in press reports about the degree to which radiation exposure can be considered "safe."

According to the National Academy of Sciences, there are no safe doses of radiation. Decades of research show clearly that any dose of radiation increases an individual's risk for the development of cancer.

"There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period," said Jeff Patterson, DO, immediate past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility. "Exposure to radionuclides, such as iodine-131 and cesium-137, increases the incidence of cancer. For this reason, every effort must be taken to minimize the radionuclide content in food and water."

"Consuming food containing radionuclides is particularly dangerous. If an individual ingests or inhales a radioactive particle, it continues to irradiate the body as long as it remains radioactive and stays in the body,"said Alan H. Lockwood, MD, a member of the Board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. "The Japanese government should ban the sale of foods that contain radioactivity levels above pre-disaster levels and continue to monitor food and water broadly in the area. In addition, the FDA and EPA must enforce existing regulations and guidelines that address radionuclide content in our food supply here at home."

Just thought I would share this article as it not a Japanese source talking about the dangers in Japanese food.

So there is "No Safe Level" in water or food, so why do the Japanese keep telling the world and their people it is okay? Are the blatantly poisoning their people? Or are they trying to avoid mass panic?

Either way, the people need to be informed and they need to know the options of whether to get out of the country or to stay and weigh the risks.

Seems like everyone is to busy lying to see what these people are enduring at a time like this...

Any thoughts?

Pred...

From what I understand, the milk and spinach thing is a known issue...basically any greens or things that eat from green then produce milk we drink (cows, goats).

The stuff falls to the ground, the cows or whatnot eat it, we milk the cows, voila...this is the big issue with the fallout actually, the milk is contaminated. Thats how it was explained to me over in the states here, I would imagine the people in japan are getting a much more detailed course in radiation and risk managment.

Our milk today, worldwide, has some trace amounts of radiation from chernobyl. Its correct, no amount is good for you..its all bad, same thing with eating cake or smoking though, a little bit now and then probably won't hurt you much, but high exposure or even medium exposure over time is definately a health risk.

I think they need to import their milk from now until...well...until the cows come home frankly. nuclear fallout may really screw up a fairly big area for a considerable time (about 10k years, give or take) if it goes really bad. Still, import milk and other such high danger foods, stay away from the high rad zones, and things should be ok...hopefully we make a bigger push to remove all nukes while we are at it considering nuclear fallout really sucks.

Radionuclides are everywhere, everyone is constantly exposed to radiation from radionuclides.
If they ban their food, they should throw in a ban on lawn mowing or taking baths etc..

Originally posted by imitator
Radionuclides are everywhere, everyone is constantly exposed to radiation from radionuclides.
If they ban their food, they should throw in a ban on lawn mowing or taking baths etc..

edit on 24-3-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

God help us!!

All this talk of the radiation being in everything so its normal and OK is pure BS!!!!!! There is natural radiation yes, but mankind has done a awsome job of increasing its levels far beyond what is normal for the planet.




The above image is a map made in 1995 charting the cesium 137 fallout from all the nuclear weapon testing mankind has done. Please note how highly populated areas like coastlines are way above the normal radiation.

The fact is the only reason we have to monitor anything for radiation is because mankind has spread cesium 137 all over the planet with nuclear tests and accidents. That is the great nuclear conspiracy.

All this talk of the radiation being in everything so its normal and OK is pure BS!!!!!!

So there is "No Safe Level" in water or food, so why do the Japanese keep telling the world and their people it is okay?

At high doses of radiation it is clearly evident that the about of harm increases in direct proportion to the amount of radiation. There is some evidence for this at lower doses of radiation that this still happens, although large uncertainties apply; this is largely due to that fact that the effects from small amounts of radiation are difficult to quantify probably because the risk increase is small and hard to detect.

Wikipedia has a good overview:

en.wikipedia.org...

As far as PSR group, they are a political activism group, take what they say with a grain of salt.

In other words, the Japanese probably think that the risk increase is small enough, negligible, or even non-existent and that it would be worse to take away bottled water from the damaged areas of Japan.

reply to post by C0bzz

Where does cesium-137 come from?

Nonradioactive cesium occurs naturally in various minerals. Radioactive cesium-137 is produced when uranium and plutonium absorb neutrons and undergo fission. Examples of the uses of this process are nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. The splitting of uranium and plutonium in fission creates numerous fission products. Cesium-137 is one of the more well-known fission products.

How does cesium-137 get into the environment?

Cesium-137 in the environment came from a variety of sources. The largest single source was fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s, which dispersed and deposited cesium-137 world-wide. However much of the cesium-137 from testing has now decayed.

Nuclear reactor waste and accidental releases such as the Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine release some cesium-137 to the environment. Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant wastes may introduce small amounts to the environment. However, the U.S. does not currently reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Cesium 137 is man made and has nothing to do with the normal radiaition outputs of nature.

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


You said:

All this talk of the radiation being in everything so its normal and OK is pure BS!!!!!! There is natural radiation yes, but mankind has done a awsome job of increasing its levels far beyond what is normal for the planet.

Then you talked about only Cesium-137. Cesium-137 isn't the only source of radiation and on a global scale the amount of exposure per year is very small from Cesium-137 compared to medical imaging or radon. Probably smaller than living on a hill or in a home using bricks for that matter. Radiation is in everything and it is normal. According to the logic that PSR uses, we should stop using bricks because all radiation is not 'safe'.

What isn't normal is massively increased levels of radiation, particularly in eastern europe or parts of Japan. The amount of risk that it carries depends on how much the radiation has increased. I agree with you, at least for eastern europe and japan where nuclear incidents have occurred. Radiation in most other places though, is mostly natural has the pie chart showed.

Originally posted by C0bzz
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

You said:

All this talk of the radiation being in everything so its normal and OK is pure BS!!!!!! There is natural radiation yes, but mankind has done a awsome job of increasing its levels far beyond what is normal for the planet.

Then you talked about only Cesium-137. Cesium-137 isn't the only source of radiation and even if its incidence was massively increased, the amount of exposure per year is very small compared to medical imaging or radon. Probably smaller than living on a hill or in a home using bricks for that matter. Radiation is in everything and it is normal.

What isn't normal is massively increased levels of radiation, particularly in eastern europe or parts of Japan. I agree with you.

edit on 25/3/11 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)

I target cesium 137 because its not natural in nature, it is man made and has had the most damaging effects on the environment and health. Small exposure or not, we should not be exposed to it at all. There are other things more dangerous like plutonium but I have never been able to find any good data on its levels in any radiated environment. Wonder why?

How do people come in contact with cesium-137?

Everyone is exposed to very small amounts of cesium-137 in soil and water as a result of atmospheric fallout. In the Northern Hemisphere, the average annual dose from exposure to cesium-137 associated with atmospheric fallout is less than 1 mrem; this dose continues to diminish every year as cesium-137 decays.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Everyone on earth has been exposed to this man made killer and there must be some correlation between its presense and increasing cancers over the last 50 years.