Organic Consumers Association Supports Crackdown on Radioactive Food

Early last month Citizens for Health, along with the other coalition members of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN), filed a petition with the FDA to drastically reduce the amount of radioactive cesium permitted in food, from a ridiculous 1200 Bq/kg to 5 Bq/kg (see why here, read why here). The Bq (Becquerel) is a measure of radioactivity. The FDA is now accepting comments on our petition and every person’s voice counts, so leave a comment in support here!

We thought you would appreciate the chance to review comments in support of this petition recently submitted by the Organic Consumers Association:

“The Organic Consumers Association supports the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network’s petition requesting the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to promulgate regulations to protect U.S. consumers from Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 contamination.

No food should have more than 5 Bq/kg of Cesium 134/137. All food should be tested for and labeled with its Cesium 134/137 contamination.

The damaged Fukushima units continue to leak 10 million becquerels of Cesium 134 and 137 per hour into the environment with no sign of stopping. Unfortunately, Cesium bioaccumulates and biomagnifies over time. Since Cesium 134 has a hazardous life of about 10-20 years ad Cesium 137 has a hazardous life of about 300-600 years, the threat of contamination in our food supply is a long-term issue that deserves immediate attention.

We are alarmed at the lack of testing currently in place to meet the present-and-growing threat of Cesium 134 and 137 contamination in our food supply. The time is past-due for a comprehensive response to radiation present in our food supply from the Fukushima disaster.

Various products in the U.S. food supply have Cesium 134 and 137 contamination, including pistachios, oranges from California, grapefruits from Florida, prunes from California, and almonds from California.

The California coastline itself is now in danger of radiation contamination. Scientists at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station found levels of Cesium 134 and 137 from the Fukushima disaster in bluefin tuna caught off the California coast in Feb. 2013.

FDA should promulgate a binding U.S. threshold of 5 Bq/kg of Cesium 134-137 contamination, but there is no safe dose. Consumers should have the information they need to manage their own Cesium 134/137 intake. The FDA should require the testing and labeling of Cesium 134/137 in food.”

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Comments (35)

We need to be prepared to take a responsible position on things like the poisoning of our foods and therefore our bodies. Any contamination is unconscionable.

I support the CITIZENS FOR HEALTH petition to reduce allowable quantities of radioactive contamination in our food.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

Patricia Stuenkel

It is very important for our health that our food sources be healthy ones and not polluted and filled with all types of poisons.

David Dressler, BA, RMT

A clear distinction has to be made here. Radioactivity being measured by both governments, the US and Canada, does not include what are called “micro-particles”, which pose a far more deadly threat than macro-particles cited here.

To be clear: “macro-particles,” most prominent of which is Iodine-131, a hazard for thyroid cancer but whose half-life is only 8 days, is most frequently reported. However, far more deadly and UNASSESSED by governments are micro-particles.

These are much smaller particles than the ones being measured. Think of them as being like dust. They include cesium, strontium,uranium,and others whose half life is on the order of 10,000 years. Governments are not measuring these particles because their sensing devices are not sensitive enough.

The risk micro-particles pose is far more dangerous because, unlike heavier macro-particles, they do not have to travel mainly by way of the food chain, which takes longer to reach one’s dinner plate. Micro-particles blow with the wind, fall in the rain, are scattered across fields of produce, deposit in the drinking water, trickle down your face in the rain and are swallowed or inhaled.

Once these micro-particles are inside your skin, you are radioactive.

Many nuclear scientists believe there is “no safe dose” of radioactivity. One micro-particle can cause DNA damage and set off a cascade of effects leading to cancer.

For more information micro-particles and updates on the Fukushima situation, go to Fairwinds at http://www.fairwinds.org

There is a great need to test and to use the 5 Bq/kg standard for cesium 134/137 to protect our food supply. I urge you to act

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

David Dressler, BA, RMT

About a year late: thank you, Patrick. And I apologize for misspelling the link. It should have been http://www.fairewinds.org. I missed the “e” in my June 27, 2013 post!

I support their views on testing for radioactive contamination of foods from Japans leakage of tanks.

It goes without saying that radiation contamination of food is unacceptable. Because there is no safe dose, I urge the FDA to require the testing and labeling of Cesium 134/137 in food.
Thank you.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

Natalie Mannering

Your text reads:
“Various products in the U.S. food supply have Cesium 134 and 137 contamination, including pistachios, oranges from California, grapefruits from Florida, primes from California….”

That should be prunes from California, not “primes”, right?

Good catch – thank you!

The FDA should, without a doubt, require the testing and labeling of Cesium 134/137 in food for the health and welfare of the citizens of this country.

I ask you to please reduce the amount of radioactive ceslum
in our foods.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

This is unacceptable. I am a vegetarian. It’s getting to the point that I am scared to eat anything. California is one our biggest agricultural areas. This will have a far reaching effect both economically and for all of our health.

As a health care physician practicing Alternative Medicine, I recognize the importance of maintaining low exposure of Cesium 134/137. In lieu of the forgoing, I request there be information available for the consumer to decide, based on personal risk, whether to purchase a product.
I speak as a physician who has had cancer, as well as a consumer.
This is very critical to our nation’s health and future wellness.
Dr. Douglas A. Heise

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

Does it make any sense to eat foods that are toxic to us over the long run let alone the effect those foods have on the developing minds and bodies of our children… we are living in a country where the air is polluted… the water is polluted.. the land is polluted and so is the foods we are consuming wouldn’t it be prudent as well as intelligent to stop killing ourselves for economic reasons and destroy this nation’s health..by eating crap that is toxic.. high in calories and nutritionally dead what good is it to a man to have 50 million dollars and cancer….we are a product and our wellness as individuals as well as this nation as a whole is determined by.. what we do ..what we eat and what we think…it’s time to start thinking SMART…don’t you think…?

You have a legal obligation to enforce the safety of Americans food. Our food supply is currently being contaminated by Cesium 134/137 from the Fukishima power plant in Japan. As consumers we have a right to know if our food is contaminated with cesium or any other hazardous chemical. I hold you responsible and accountable to test and properly label our food for Cesium 134/137.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

I support labeling of all food for contaminates and GMO ingredients. It would be a big step up for the FDA to take this on. I had, at one time, thought that the FDA was created for this purpose. I support food safety for all.

Please require testing and labeling for Cesium 134/137 in our food.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

My husband’!s family who lived on the borders of the Nevada test site-struggle with cancer or have past away from it. The threat is real. It is a hard law to enforce But knowledge is power.

It’s time you stopped allowing poisons into our foods and we ask as a Nation to disallow this to continue. We are a powerful and consciousness Nation and it’s your duty to allow all foods to be labeled to alert us to anything that will bring us harm in the future. No more poisons!

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

I am confused. How will setting a lower limit help? If our food is contaminated with Cesium, then what else can we do? What other source of food is there? I would think that food prices would go way up if we destroyed all food that is contaminated from the Fukushima fallout. And we can’t all very well become breatharians. How does reducing the allowed amount of radiation in food help us? Perhaps a labeling campaign? Then the radioative food will be cheap, and the non-radioactive expensive? So the poor people can feel terrible about having to buy the cheap stuff? Hmmm…. If all food from California is contaminated, then it seems like we’ll have some really big problems if we destroy all of it. Or is there a way to remove the fallout from the soil?

Please consider setting a limit of 5 Bq/kg of Cesium 134-137 contamination in our foods when actually there is no safe dose. Our foods must be labeled with this information so we can determine how much we are exposed to when we purchase a food item. Babies and children have smaller bodies and are affected more significantly by even this amount.

Thank you.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

All food should be tested and labeled withs Cesium contamination from damaged Fukushima units leaking radioactive contaminates. California coastline is exposed to radiation contamination and FDA should require testing and labeling of Cesium 134/137 in our food su[[ly, especially those foods which include citrus, nuts, fish and other marine life. I want to be able to decide which foods are safe to eat in order to maintain my health and the health of family and friends.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

I support the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network’s petition filed with the FDA to reduce the amount of radioactive cesium permitted in food to 5 Bq/k.

As a resident of coastal California (San Luis Obispo), I am understandably personally concerned about the risk of Cesium contamination in local foods from the ongoing leakage of 10 million becquerels of Cesium 134 and 137 per hour from the damaged Fukushima units into the environment with no sign of stopping.

The FDA should require that all food be tested for and labeled with its Cesium 134/137 contamination.

Comments are appreciated! But please be sure to click the link in the post to log your comment with the FDA.
As much as we get under their skin, they probably won’t see your comment here – and even if they did, it could be ignored since it wasn’t submitted via their comments system. Thanks for your involvement!

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