As has been reported elsewhere, such as on Japan Probe, Japan will officially be adopting new safety limits for radiation in food: 100 Bq/kg for most foods, 50 for milk and food for babies, and 10 for drinking water. These limits are significantly more strict than what the US impses (1,200 Bq/kg in most cases) or the EU (1,000).
My two reactions to this news are 1: it's about damn time, and 2: what the hell is wrong with some countries and their high limits?
This, however, has lead to some really strange whining. Yesterday I saw on TV a segment about the new rad limits, and their summary was that the new levels are way too strict and might destroy agriculture in the Tohoku area. They wanted to seem concerned for the livelihoods of affected farmers and fishermen, while not really knowing what the hell they're talking about. From the tone of the program it felt more like they were talking about restrictions on imports than something that could actually impact people's health.
My thought on the issue is just this: we need to seriously test foods, discarding anything over the limits, and be strict about it. Some people will no longer be able to use their farmland. But that's what we have to do to keep the country safe. We need real, open and honest data. Farms and fishing in the region is already hurting, and trying to foolishly ignore the dangers is not the solution.
Oh, and if you ask the next logical question: so what the hell does 100 Bq/kg mean anyway? - I would suggest you read this great blog post by Anne Kaneko about calculating dose from Bq amounts. Her blog is here. If you do the math she posts (which jibes with numbers I've seen and calculated) and eat everything in your diet at the limit of 100 Bq/kg, you get just over 1mSv/year... a reasonable amount IMO as long as your background dose isn't too high.
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