This month, Japan revived efforts to collect samples of melted fuel debris from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant using a robot. In March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear plant’s cooling systems to fail, leaving behind fuel debris and other radioactivate contaminants. This latest attempt to collect and study a fuel sample from the site will only serve as a band aid to the needed result — widespread testing and monitoring of site contaminants to better protect our health. These radioactivate contaminants like cesium 134 and 137 have been detcted in our food and water in the U.S.
We also call for a better standard for radioactive cesium 134 and cesium 137 levels than the current 1,200 Bq/kg. The U.S. has weak guidelines for allowable cesium. Japan’s allowed cesium level is 12 times more protective for adults and 24 times more protective for children. The U.S. should have at least the same standard as Japan. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that high levels of radioactive cesium in or near the human body can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma or death. The European Union is still dealing with Chernobyl’s radioactive fallout from 1986 and permits 1250 bq/kg cesium. And U.S. lawmakers need to be made aware of this important fact. Today, more than ever, it’s time for supporters of Citizens for Health (CFH) to educate U.S. lawmakers about the dangers of radioactive contamination of our food and water from Fukushima, located on the east coast of Japan.
Fukushima Still Haunts the U.S. 13 Years Later
CFH, along with our partners, Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN), remain deeply concerned about the decades it will take to clean the site and reduce the ongoing problem of radioactive contamination of U.S. food and water due to Fukushima wastewater flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
“It has taken Tokyo Electric and Power Company (TEPCO) 13 years to extract a tiny amount of lethal radioactive waste from one of three exploded nuclear reactor cores. At that rate it could be more than a century to decommission the site, and no one really knows for sure,” said Kim Roberson, Project Director of FFAN.
CFH firmly believes that radioactive waste from the site needs to be captured and stored until it can be properly filtered. Hazardous chemicals found at Fukushima are extremely difficult to filter and TEPCO is not attempting to do so at this time.
Act Now: Educate U.S. Lawmakers on Curbing the Threat
These issues about protecting U.S. food and water from the Fukushima fallout were covered in the July 15, 2024 Congressional briefing webinar hosted by the FFAN Coalition alongside Citizens for Health. As a united coalition, we want to educate lawmakers on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) lack of action on an appropriate standard for allowable cesium levels through our FDA Citizen Petition. Comments are still open. We urge CFH supporters to make their voices heard.
Sign the Citizens Petition today!
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