Japan sells first Fukushima fish after the nuclear crisis

It's been over a year now, and the first seafood caught off Japan's Fukushima coastline since last year's nuclear disaster went on sale Monday.

The sales were limited to octopus and marine snails because of the ongoing fears about radiation.

Octopus and whelk, (marine snail) were being sold because testing for radioactive cesium consistently measured no detectable amounts. They were caught Friday and boiled so they last longer while being tested for radiation before they could be sold Monday.

Flounder, sea bass and other fish from Fukushima can't be sold yet because of contamination. 

"It was crisp when I bit into it, and it tasted so good," said Yasuhiro Yoshida, who oversees the seafood section at York Benimaru supermarket in Soma, which sold out of about 65 pounds of the snails and 90 pounds of octopus.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year left the coastlines of northeastern Japan devastated, and displaced tens of thousands of people. 

There is some hope now that things will improve, and that crabs would be next to go on sale as radiation had not been detected in them.

But there is a realization  that improvement will take time, perhaps years, especially for other kinds of fish.

Radiation amounts have been decreasing, but cesium lasts years.

The octopus and snail were selling at almost half of what they fetched before the disaster, he said. But he said people were buying Fukushima seafood to show support for local fishermen. 

Nobuyuki Yagi, a University of Tokyo professor studying the fisheries industry after the disaster, said serious concerns remain over whether anyone would buy Fukushima fish, and the key lay in finding the types of fish that don't store radioactive elements.

As the fishing industry takes small improvement steps, farmlands have also been contaminated, and every grain of rice will be tested at harvest in some areas before they can be sold. The image of Fukushima produce has been badly damaged and worried consumers are avoiding Fukushima-grown food.

Is Japan's Fukushima Water safe?

A Japanese politician drank a glass of water taken from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant to prove everything was safe.
Yasuhiro Sonoda seemed somewhat unsure as he swallowed the water, which had been scooped up from a puddle inside one of the damaged reactors.
"Just because I drank the water does not mean that its safety has been confirmed, so there is no significance to the act. I drank it because a request had been made.”

The parliamentary secretary for the Japanese cabinet office said he decided to drink the water after being constantly asked to "prove" the area around the plant was safe.
The Fukushima plant has been the hotbed of radioactive contamination fears after the reactor meltdowns.
A 20km (12 mile) no-go zone is still enforced around the plant, yet, Mr.Yasuhiro Sonoda drank water from that puddle.


(above photo shows steel tanks used to store radioactive wastewater that is accumulating at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant)

Japan discovers radiation in rice

In Japan, a sample of unharvested rice contained 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, (Japanese officials say 500 and under is safe) Radioactive cesium, you may remember, was spread from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant after it was damaged by that massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.



Some nations have stopped importing some food products from Japan and Japanese consumers are understandably nervous about the radiation.
Japan wants more tests done on rice growing near a nuclear plant after finding elevated levels of radiation.

The government has been testing vegetables and fish for radiation since the disaster.

EPA Says Low Levels of Radiation Found in U.S. Milk

It seems radiation has been found in everything from drinking water to blades of grass, nowt the U.S. government is saying that traces of radiation have been found in milk in Washington state.

But right after saying things like this, they always say, "there's nothing to worry about because  the amounts are well below levels of public health concern.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that the screening sample taken March 25 from Spokane, Wash., detected 0.8 pCi/L of iodine-131. That would be more than 5,000 times lower than the number they have decided is okay.

The EPA also says it expects more findings of radiation "in the coming days" but added that they are "far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children."

Iodine-131 has a half life of approximately eight days, and the level detected in milk and milk products is  expected to drop quickly, the agency said.

In order to calm nerves and make people feel better, the EPA said in a written statement:

"Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a minuscule amount compared to what people experience every day.
For example, a person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round trip cross country flight, watching television, and even from construction materials."

 Last week the FDA said it was going block imports of Japanese milk products and certain other foods produced in the area around the Fukushima nuclear facility because of radiation contamination.

Radioactive elements have been detected by monitors in USA

 

As tap water in Japan has been found with small, yet affected amounts of radiation, trace amounts of radioactive elements have been detected by monitors in Anaheim and Riverside, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

They are also saying that the “minuscule amounts” are not harmful and “pose no health concern.”

Similar amounts of radioactive iodine, cesium and tellurium were also detected by monitors in San Francisco and Seattle.

“The radiation levels detected on the filters from California and Washington monitors are hundreds of thousands to millions of times below levels of concern,” according to an EPA statement.

The agency noted that on a typical day, Americans receive doses of radiation from rocks, bricks and the sun that are 100,000 times higher than what has been detected in material coming from Japan.

What to do? Is it Iodine tablets, salt, seaweed, or red wine?

As the nuclear panic sets in, health food stores, pharmacies and supermarkets thousands of miles from the meltdown in Japan are selling everything in hopes to prevent radiation poisoning.

Russia has sold lots of red wine and seaweed.

We see people in China people buying lots and lots of salt, and in Bulgaria they are running out of iodine tablets.

People are doing this because they simply don't believe government officals who say this is nothing to worry about, like President Obama, inspiring no confidence when he proclaims there's no threat of radiation

The Chinese,  government is calling  for calm after people bought up humongous quantities of salt thinking there was enough iodine to block radiation.

China's Ministry of Health said an adult would need to swallow 6.6lbs of salt at one sitting to prevent radiation poisoning, and the country's largest salt maker, China National Salt Industry Corp., issued a statement saying it had ample reserves and that "panic buying and hoarding is unnecessary".

China keeps telling the citizens there is no threat of radiation contamination from the Fukushima plant, 620 miles from them.

But having told the people that, they went ahead and began checking all incoming food imports for radiation.

Meanwhile in Russia, there was seaweed and red wine flying off the shelves.

The Russian government in the past recommended seaweed, which contains iodine, and red wine, which helps block radiation because of its tannin content.

Sales of vodka were also up because people believe it could help block radiation.

Bakers in Russia have increased production of a special kind of bread which is rich in iodine.

In Bulgaria,  Professor Donka Baykova, a nutritionist, encouraged people to drink red wine to help prevent radiation.

Ukrainians in Bulgaria are using chili peppers as a of blocking radiation.

Sales of potassium iodide tablets have skyrocketed after comments from the Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, who said it was "definitely appropriate" to buy iodine.

Some people have put plastic wrap over their doors and window to keep the radiation out.