Physician and
environmentalist Dr Helen Caldicott says Australians should beware of buying
any food products from Japan, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The Nobel-prize nominated Australian physician
made the comment at a public meeting in Katoomba last Wednesday (30 May 2012), organised by the
Blue Mountains Food Co-op. She said the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima
and subsequent explosions at the plant had resulted in the release of massive
amounts of radiation into the atmosphere and ocean, even far greater than
released in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
The accident was rated
two and a half to five times worse than Chernobyl, making Fukushima the worst
industrial accident of all time. Of particular relevance to Australians is that
the uranium in the Fukushima plant came from Australia, she said.
Radioactive elements
such as iodine, caesium and strontium had been released into the food chain
across Japan, and were being circulated by wind and rain and then concentrated
in the food chain. Elevated levels of radioactivity had been found in food
products from as far south as Okinawa, she said. As well, products from less
contaminated regions were being mixed with more contaminated ones, so that consumers
had no idea how dangerous foods from any part of Japan might be.
“Once radioactive
elements enter the body, you can’t get rid of them, and they can trigger
mutations that lead to cancer, over a time scale from two up to 70 years.”
Many foods from Japan
are popular with Australian consumers, and are on many supermarket shelves. These
include rice, shitake mushrooms, green tea, soy milk, soy sauces, miso, udon and
soba noodles, nori and other foods from the sea.
She said fish were at
particular risk, with reports of contaminated tuna being caught as far away as
the coast of California. While the northern and southern hemispheres have
separate air circulatory systems, that is not the case with the oceans, she
said, and contaminated fish could migrate throughout the Pacific, including to
Australia.
Dr Caldicott also
warned that foods from many parts of Europe were contaminated still from the
Chernobyl disaster - and would continue to be so for hundreds of years.
“In Germany there are wild
boar so contaminated they almost glow in the dark, and have to be disposed of
like nuclear waste,” she said.
“The safest solution
for Australian consumers is to buy foods grown in Australia.”
I have seen frozen broad beans from Japan. The brand name gave no hint of the source. It's wise to check the source of any frozen fruit or vegetable.
ReplyDeleteYes, Janet, and the food labelling regime in Australia is pathetic, and needs to be changed so we have a clear idea where every ingredient in every food product comes from. Of course, if we buy local organic fresh fruit and veg, and steer clear of imported "food products" as much as we can, the job gets a bit easier.
ReplyDeleteremember the fish oil tablets... readily prescribed... where are they from? objective-----health.
ReplyDeleteHi Larry
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for providing an overview of Helen's views on food safety in Japan. This is an issue I have been following for some time, I am gob smacked that health food shops are still selling a lot of Japanese imports when there is a question mark overhanging their safety. Are you familiar with Arnie Gunderson? Like Helen he has been outspoken on this issue - particularly from an American perspective as they received a lot of hot particles of radiation along the coast following the meltdown. He believes that there is also reason to question produce coming from the US, which is where a lot of our nuts come (sunflower seeds, walnets, etc etc) I am thinking of starting a website encouraging people to start looking more closely at what they eat - see the work in progress below and if anyone wants to contribute please do.