Gov't orders 4 prefectures to suspend some food shipments
TOKYO, March 22, Kyodo
The government ordered Fukushima and three other prefectures Monday to suspend shipments of spinach and another leaf vegetable following the detection of radioactive substances in the produce at levels beyond legal limits, while trace amounts of radioactive substances were detected in tap water samples collected Sunday and Monday in nine prefectures.High levels of radioactive substances were also detected in seawater near a troubled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, according to the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. The company said it is too early to assess the impact on fishery products.
While issuing the orders to Fukushima and its surrounding prefectures -- Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma -- in accordance with a nuclear disaster law, the government's nuclear disaster countermeasure headquarters also asked Fukushima to refrain from shipping raw milk.
Top government spokesman Yukio Edano said the readings for radioactive substances found in the farm produce were at levels exceeding provisional limits set under the Food Sanitation Law but ''aren't readings that would affect humans.''
''Eating food with (radioactive levels) exceeding provisional limits isn't going to affect your health,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano added, urging the public not to overreact to the findings.
Concerning vegetable and dairy farmers who will be affected by the restrictions on shipments, Edano said the measure is premised on ''appropriate compensation'' to be provided by the government because they will be affected by a regulatory measure it has imposed.
Sakae Muto, vice president of the nuclear power plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., hinted the company would pay compensation over the suspension of shipments.
''We will deal with the matter from the viewpoint of helping affected people while consulting with the central government,'' Muto told a news conference.
Following the inspection of leaf vegetables and milk, which are most susceptible to radioactive contamination, authorities have now begun tests to determine the possible impact on fish.
Radioactive iodine and cesium have been found in spinach and ''kakina,'' another leaf vegetable, produced in and around Fukushima Prefecture at levels exceeding legal limits since the radiation leaks at the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
The farm ministry said 17.4 percent of total spinach shipments in 2009 came from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures. Sixty percent of the spinach shipped to the Tokyo central wholesale market in late March 2010 was grown in the four prefectures.
Meanwhile, tap water collected Sunday showed both radioactive iodine and cesium in samples from Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, while iodine alone was found in samples from Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata and Yamanashi prefectures, according to a nationwide survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The ministry said tests showed that radioactive substances detected in the air as well as tap water do not pose a risk to human health, but added the health ministry needs to check on the effects on agricultural crops.
According to TEPCO, radioactive iodine at levels 126.7 times higher than the legal concentration limit and radioactive cesium 24.8 times higher were detected in seawater near the water discharging outlets of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Since no radioactive substances had been recently detected in seawater before the disaster, the latest detection is believed to have been caused by the nuclear accident, company officials said.
The iodine and cesium could have leaked into seawater after being washed out by rain or seeped into underground as a result of water-dousing operations to cool down the stricken reactors at the plant, the officials said.
As the government scrambled to address the latest issue of radioactive contamination in water and some vegetables, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said during a Cabinet-level emergency disasters headquarters meeting that while he could not describe the situation as no longer critical, efforts to tackle the crisis at the quake-hit Fukushima plant are ''moving forward slowly.''
The premier also said at the meeting held at his office that he will gear up for reconstruction of the quake-hit areas.
Kan, who has been working round the clock to overcome what he calls Japan's worst crisis since World War II, was initially scheduled to make a half-day visit to one of the quake-and tsunami-hit areas and a base for workers trying to contain the nuclear crisis, but the trip was canceled due to bad weather.
His trip was aimed at demonstrating that he has a grip on the situation after he came under fire for his government's inability to provide accurate information in a prompt manner to the public and the international community, and a lack of foresight in preparing for a worst-case scenario, political pundits said.
Kan viewed the nuclear plant and other affected areas from the air the day after the 9.0 magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami.
==Kyodo
