ID :
195461
Sun, 07/17/2011 - 17:51
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195461
The shortlink copeid
Gov't may expand cattle shipment suspension zone beyond Fukushima Pref.
TOKYO, July 17 Kyodo - The government may consider halting beef cattle shipments from areas beyond Fukushima Prefecture, where it plans to soon impose a suspension, senior vice health minister Kohei Otsuka said Sunday.
''We are currently considering Fukushima Prefecture, but we may have to consider the need for a further response by checking the distribution of contaminated straw,'' Otsuka said on a TV program.
The government's nuclear disaster task force is set to suspend shipments of beef cattle from Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located, after beef from cows shipped from there was found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium. The government is expected to issue a suspension order on Tuesday.
Otsuka proposed setting up an inspection base for testing the urine of all cows being shipped to market, and returning those that show levels of radioactive substances higher than the government-set limit to farms so they can be decontaminated by giving them safe feed.
Under this idea, which he qualified as his ''personal opinion,'' the senior vice minister said the central government would purchase noncontaminated straw from regions in western Japan and provide it to farms so they can feed it to the cows.
On Sunday the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and affected local governments continued tracing the distribution channels of meat that could be contaminated with radioactive material, as beef cattle shipped from other farms in Fukushima Prefecture were found the previous day to also have been fed contaminated straw.
The Tokyo metropolitan government said Sunday that high levels of radioactive cesium was detected in meat from a cow shipped to a packing plant in Tokyo from a farm in Koriyama, Fukushima.
The meat contained radioactive cesium at measurements as high as 2,400 becquerels, nearly five times higher than the government-set safety limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram, according to the Tokyo government.
Straw remaining at the farm where the cow was shipped from was found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium measuring as high as 500,000 becquerels per kilogram, or 378 times the government-set limit.
Altogether, 84 cows from five cattle farms in Fukushima Prefecture -- where radioactive cesium contaminated hay was discovered -- were shipped to eight prefectures including Tochigi, Tokyo, and Osaka, and their meat was distributed to at least nine other prefectures including Aichi, Kyoto and Fukuoka.
The possible contamination of the 84 cows surfaced Saturday during a survey of cattle farms in the prefecture conducted by the local government since July 11, after a cattle farm in Minamisoma was found to have fed cows with straw containing radioactive cesium far above the government-set limit.
According to a calculation by Kyodo News, a total of 143 cows exposed or suspected of having been exposed to radioactive cesium were already shipped to at least 37 of Japan's 47 prefectures.
The Fukushima prefectural government has already asked beef cattle farms in the prefecture to voluntary suspend beef cattle shipments until it finishes the on-the-spot inspections of cattle farms on Monday.
''We are currently considering Fukushima Prefecture, but we may have to consider the need for a further response by checking the distribution of contaminated straw,'' Otsuka said on a TV program.
The government's nuclear disaster task force is set to suspend shipments of beef cattle from Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located, after beef from cows shipped from there was found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium. The government is expected to issue a suspension order on Tuesday.
Otsuka proposed setting up an inspection base for testing the urine of all cows being shipped to market, and returning those that show levels of radioactive substances higher than the government-set limit to farms so they can be decontaminated by giving them safe feed.
Under this idea, which he qualified as his ''personal opinion,'' the senior vice minister said the central government would purchase noncontaminated straw from regions in western Japan and provide it to farms so they can feed it to the cows.
On Sunday the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and affected local governments continued tracing the distribution channels of meat that could be contaminated with radioactive material, as beef cattle shipped from other farms in Fukushima Prefecture were found the previous day to also have been fed contaminated straw.
The Tokyo metropolitan government said Sunday that high levels of radioactive cesium was detected in meat from a cow shipped to a packing plant in Tokyo from a farm in Koriyama, Fukushima.
The meat contained radioactive cesium at measurements as high as 2,400 becquerels, nearly five times higher than the government-set safety limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram, according to the Tokyo government.
Straw remaining at the farm where the cow was shipped from was found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium measuring as high as 500,000 becquerels per kilogram, or 378 times the government-set limit.
Altogether, 84 cows from five cattle farms in Fukushima Prefecture -- where radioactive cesium contaminated hay was discovered -- were shipped to eight prefectures including Tochigi, Tokyo, and Osaka, and their meat was distributed to at least nine other prefectures including Aichi, Kyoto and Fukuoka.
The possible contamination of the 84 cows surfaced Saturday during a survey of cattle farms in the prefecture conducted by the local government since July 11, after a cattle farm in Minamisoma was found to have fed cows with straw containing radioactive cesium far above the government-set limit.
According to a calculation by Kyodo News, a total of 143 cows exposed or suspected of having been exposed to radioactive cesium were already shipped to at least 37 of Japan's 47 prefectures.
The Fukushima prefectural government has already asked beef cattle farms in the prefecture to voluntary suspend beef cattle shipments until it finishes the on-the-spot inspections of cattle farms on Monday.
