Okay...AT THE SAME TIME, here is an actual corporate response received and posted to the blog. PEPSICO, maker of Gatorade, Quaker Products, Frito-Lay Potato Chips, etc says, " * PepsiCo has taken proactive steps to further ensure the safety of raw materials we purchase from Japan, including strict surveillance of all food and beverage ingredients produced near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. …
...Our suppliers have confirmed that despite the recent disaster, the materials we purchase are safe and suitable for consumers. * WHAT?? doesn't take a nuclear scientist to figure out that can't be good. They rely on these people whose livelihoods depend on keeping this whole facade going to tell them what is safe for US to eat and drink??? Come on. Cancer is all over the place there. Let's be real.
Read more corporate responses at the blog under August titled Corporate Responses.
Below are some other news stories that convinced me getting ingredients from around Fukushima, Japan is not a good idea..
Recently the Japanese government has become a little more honest about the true severity of things over there. The newly elected Trade Minister called the area around Fukushima a "town of death". He told the people he said that because he wanted people to understand the severity of this.
Just last week an article was published stating that the amount of cesium around that area is the eqivalent of 168 Hiroshoma bombs.
Interestingly, this article was published in JapanToday, but has been since removed. The comments are still there though and they are an interesting read.
"More than 2,600 cattle have been contaminated, Kyodo News reported July 23, after the Miyagi local government said 1,183 cattle at 58 farms were fed hay containing radioactive cesium before being shipped to meat markets....
.....Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano has said officials didn’t foresee that farmers might ship contaminated hay to cattle ranchers. That highlights the government’s inability to think ahead and to act, said Mariko Sano, secretary general for Shufuren, a housewives organization in Tokyo.
......On July 22, Aeon Co., Japan’s biggest supermarket chain, said 1,614 kilograms (3,558 pounds) of beef from cattle fed contaminated feed had been unknowingly sold at stores in Tokyo and nine other prefectures
....Some areas still have high radiation dosages and if you also eat products from these areas, you’ll get a considerable amount of radiation,” said Sentaro Takahashi, a professor of radiation control at Kyoto University in western Japan. “This is why the government needs to do something fast.”
Radiation in food is measured in becquerel, a gauge of the strength of radioactivity in materials such as Iodine-131 and Cesium-137.
As much as 2,300 becquerels of cesium a kilogram was detected in the contaminated beef, according to a July 18 statement from the health ministry. The government limit is 500 becquerels per kilogram.
And here is some information from an organization staying close to the people around Fukushima, Japan. It is a shame that the government is treating them this way. Scroll down to the article titled International Expert Symposium Ignores Fukushima Residents: Citizens Group
http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/
Japan aims to bring radiation levels below 20 millisieverts annually
BTW the radiation levels mentioned here they would like to bring it down to, the 20 number, is actually 20x higher than what was allowed at the time of Chernobyl. They are trying to bring DOWN the amt of cancer stuff over there to this 20X higher than allowable during Chernobyl level. Guess who made these new levels the new acceptable level? You guessed it, the Japanese government/advocates for Nuclear Energy!
* Thorough cleanup of areas frequented by children also a priority
* Group launched which will form core of new nuclear watchdog (Adds details on launch of new regulatory group)
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Japan aims to halve radiation over two years in places contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear crisis, removing soil, plants and trees as well as cleaning roofs of buildings in an area spanning thousands of square kilometres.
The cleanup could cost tens of billions of dollars, and thousands of evacuees may not be able to return home for years, if ever.
Radiation in a contaminated area is estimated to fall naturally by about 40 percent over two years, and the government wants to speed up the process by another 10 percent through human efforts, according to guidelines for the cleanup unveiled on Friday.
"We aim to reduce radiation levels by half over the next two years in affected areas, and by 60 percent over the same period for places used by children," nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono told a news conference.
Another key government goal is to bring radiation below 20 millisieverts per year, the threshold level for evacuation, in areas where it is exceeded. Some places in the evacuation zone have levels that far surpass this, government data showed this week.
"Ultimately we want to achieve this goal in a shorter period. Technology is continuing to advance and with enough government funding and effort it can be done," Hosono said.
Japan has banned people from entering within a 20 km (12 mile) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which had its reactor cooling systems knocked out by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, triggering meltdowns and a radiation crisis. Some 80,000 people have been evacuated from the area around the plant.
The guideline also calls for thorough cleanups in places frequented by children such as schools and parks, eventually pushing radiation levels in those places below 1 millisievert annually.
The total area in need of cleanup could be 1,000-4,000 square km (386-1,544 square miles), about 0.3 to 1 percent of Japan's total land area, and cost several trillion yen to more than 10 trillion yen ($130 billion), experts say.
One major problem the government faces is that removal of farmland topsoil could ruin fertile agricultural areas, and it plans to come up with guidelines to address this problem next month.
The government said it will take full responsibility for the soil and debris removed in the cleanup, but that as yet it does not have a permanent solution for storing the radioactive material and it would have to be kept within local communities for the time being.
"I reiterate that Fukushima prefecture will not become the final place of treatment for the debris," Hosono said.
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG
The disaster at Fukushima has prompted Japan to thoroughly rethink its energy policy including its enforcement of nuclear safety standards.
This month the government said it is setting up a new nuclear watchdog which will no longer be supervised by the trade ministry, which has traditionally promoted nuclear power.
Instead the organisation will be supervised by the environment ministry, seen as relatively untainted by the collusive ties with industry which plagued the existing agency.
"Crisis management, which had not been fully established before, will be embraced by the new organisation. The group gathered today includes personnel from law enforcement and national defence to achieve this purpose," said Hosono on Friday at an inauguration ceremony for a group that will form the core of the new regulatory body.
The group consists of members from various government ministries as well as the private sector and will form the basis of the new body to be launched in April. (Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Michael Watson)
Professor Chris Busby talks about some things the Japanese government is doing.
OUR FDA IS RELYING ON THIS JAPANESE GOVERNMENT TO TELL US WHAT IS SAFE FOR OUR FAMILIES TO EAT. DOES THIS BOTHER ANYONE BESIDES ME??
The Japanese government's track record with being truthful about anything has been sketchy at best. Seriously. Read the August post on the FDA and Fukushima.
Do you really think it is a good idea to leave the health of the American people in the hands of this kind of government? Why on earth are they being allowed to make these kinds of decisions for us? Why are we not using our common sense on this? It really is a no brainer. It's bad over there. We can debate all day long about how bad it is.
There's a picture of a rabbit circulating around the internet that was born with no ears near Fukushima. People there are attributing that deformity to the nuclear reactor accident. Others will say maybe that was a natural random ocurrance. That's an extreme of a reality that may or may not be connected to the accident at Fukushima, that's why I didn't post it here. One thing is for sure, it is bad.
Just stop and think for a moment, if given the choice, would you knowingly feed your children, your family, those you know and love, something from that area? Well, I am telling you the FDA is allowing it to happen so now you know. And corporate america is there sourcing food for your table right now. See corporate responses in the blog for August.
So, now you know it is being done. In essence your family is eating things from around Fukushima whether you like it or not. Now what will you do with that information? Ignore it and pray no one in your family gets cancer because of it? Or take action?
If you are a news media organization, I hope you will pick up the story. Every american deserves to know this and you have the ability to bring it to them. Please do so. It is their right to know and as a media organization that cares about the families that view your show or read your paper, it is your professional obligation to bring it to them.
If you are an individual, I would encourage you to sign the petition saying you want to know where all this food from Japan is going into our food supply so you can avoid feeding it to your family if you so choose. Seriously, I don't think you would intentionally knowingly be willing to feed your kids, your family, those you know and love things from there, would you? Take a stand on this now. Sign the petition. It takes less than one minute. Tell your representatives you want to know where your food is coming from.
Better labeling laws are needed so that we can know where ingredients are coming from. That way, for example, if you don't want to consume something from Japan since the nuclear disaster happened, you could know where it is going and then leave those items on the shelf. It should be your right to decide what is in the best interest of your family.
In addition to country of origin labeling, we also need to label GMO food. The petition says we want to know where GMOs are going in our food supply as well. In the same way as the food coming from Japan, we have a right to know where genetically modified food is going. Again, that would be helpful to have on the label so we could make informed decisions when purchasing food for our families. Right now we have absolutely no clue. Some people may not want their family consuming GMOs and they should be able to avoid it if they so choose. Many European nations already require it on the labels, the US government should mandate it here as well so that people can make informed decisions for their families.
Below are some documentaries on Monsanto. They have a big footprint on our food industry and below those is a documentary that the Environmental Working Group has put together regarding how chemicals in our environment affect us. It is an interesting piece as well.
