Post by grammagoldie on Apr 11, 2014 12:42:59 GMT -5
excerpts from FDA article (link at end) same old BS (red highlights are mine)
March 2014 Update
To date, FDA has no evidence that radionuclides from the Fukushima incident are present in the U.S. food supply at levels that would pose a public health concern. This is true for both FDA-regulated food products imported from Japan and U.S. domestic food products, including seafood caught off the coast of the United States.
Consequently, FDA is not advising consumers to alter their consumption of specific foods imported from Japan or domestically produced foods, including seafood.
FDA continues to closely monitor the situation at and around the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility, as it has since the start of the incident and will coordinate with other Federal and state scientific institutions, including oceanographic research institutions.
For example, a study published in 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reported finding very low levels of Cesium in Pacific Bluefin tuna caught by recreational fisherman off the coast of California in August 2011. FDA reviewed this study and determined that the levels of cesium were roughly 300 times lower than levels that would prompt FDA to investigate further to determine if there were a health concern.
FDA also closely monitors information and data from a number of foreign governments and international organizations. This includes monitoring;
the Japanese government’s food sample testing program
the import sample testing programs of nations geographically close to Japan that import significant amounts of food from Japan
Fukushima Dai-ichi incident related activities of international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
We will continue to keep you updated about this situation. For more information about milk and other food screening, please visit www.usa.gov/japan20115.
FDA is processing all food products from Japan in four categories:
Category 1 consists of products that the Government of Japan has restricted for sale or export. Authorities will prevent these products from entering the U.S. These products cannot gain entry by providing sample results.
As of July 11, 2011, these include:
Tea leaves from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Kanagawa, and Chiba prefectures, and dace, ayu, and cherry salmon (yamame) from Fukushima.
Spinach, lettuce, celery, cress, endive, escarole, chard, collards, and other head-type leafy vegetables from the Fukushima Prefecture.
Turnips and other non-head type leafy vegetables, as well as broccoli, cauliflower, flower head brassicas (i.e. broccoli and cauliflower), mushrooms bamboo shoots, and Ostrich fern from the Fukushima Prefecture.
Sand lance from Fukushima Prefecture
Milk from the Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures.
Spinach and kakina from the Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures.
Category 2 consists of products from the Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Tochigi Prefectures that the Government of Japan has not currently banned for sale or export. These specific products include dairy products and fresh produce. Under Import Alert 99-33, authorities may detain these products when they arrive in the U.S. Authorities will release these products from detention if the importer can show the products are compliant.
Category 3 consists of food and feed products not covered by FDA’s Import Alert that come from these three Japanese prefectures:
Fukushima
Ibaraki
Tochigi
FDA will examine these products, sampling and testing as needed, to determine if they are safe to enter the U.S.
FDA may adjust this strategy based on additional information received from monitoring results in Japan. FDA may also further evaluate this strategy if the Government of Japan makes changes to its list of prohibited exports.
When FDA tests food for radioactive contamination, it measures how much radiation is released by radioactive materials that are not expected to be naturally present.
Radioactive materials are substances that release high energy particles or electromagnetic radiation. These high energy particles or electromagnetic radiation are emitted by unstable atoms as they go through transition to a more stable state. The energy that is released from radioactive materials is called radiation.
Radioactive materials can be natural (for example, some rocks in the earth are radioactive) or man-made.
What are the principal radionuclides involved in a nuclear reactor accident?
Iodine-131 (I-131), Cesium-134 (Cs-134) and Cesium-137 (Cs-137) are the radionuclides of greatest concern to the food supply following a nuclear power plant accident. Along with those three radionuclides, FDA also monitors others as needed – among them, Strontium-90, Ruthenium-103 (Ru-103) and Ruthenium-106 (Ru-106).
Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, FDA has screened incoming food items for these radionuclides and others as needed. FDA also continually evaluates data and information from the accident and adjusts monitoring activities as needed.
What are the standards FDA uses to determine the amounts of specific radioactive materials in foods and whether they may cause a safety concern?
FDA uses Derived Intervention Levels (PDF)9 (DILs) to help determine whether food presents a safety concern. The criteria used to set DILs include:
the percentage of potentially contaminated foods in a person’s diet
the amount of food typically eaten
the length of time that a person may be expected to eat contaminated food
the potential exposure to contaminated foods of different members of the population, including infants and children.
In general, DILs apply to all foods. FDA does not have different DILs for different types of food, though DILs may be adjusted based on, for example, whether a food must be rehydrated before being ready to eat.
What has FDA’s screening and testing shown so far?
As of March 10, 2014, FDA has tested 1,345 import and domestic samples specifically to monitor for Fukushima contamination. Two hundred and twenty-five of these were seafood or seafood products. Of the 1,345 samples, two were found to contain detectable levels of Cesium, but the levels were well below the established Derived Intervention Level (DIL) and posed no public health concern. They were:
Ginger Powder (sample no. 686901, collected April 2011)
Green Tea Bag (sample no. 827430, collected August 2013)
FDA radionuclide in food analysis results (PDF - 3.24 MB)12
During this time, routine monitoring of the domestic U.S. food supply was also conducted and included roughly 1,500 samples of many food products, including six containing seafood or fish. No contamination was detected during this routine monitoring. Information about this monitoring program can be found at: www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ComplianceEnforcement/UCM073281.pdf13
How will water contaminated with radioactive materials affect seafood safety?
FDA does not anticipate any public health effect on seafood safety. This is due to a number of factors:
Little or no harvesting of fish is taking place in the area around the reactor. ime.
Water acts as both a shield and a diluent. Airborne radioactive particles settle on the surface of the water.
The volume of water between particles and fish absorbs radiation, “shielding” the fish. In the case of a direct release into the sea, the amount of water in the ocean rapidly dilutes and disperses the radiation to negligible levels.
Some radioactive isotopes rapidly decay. The half life of I-131 is about eight days. That means that the level of radiation drops by half every eight days. This process is called “radioactive decay.” This drop in the level of radiation means that the level does not stay constant through the lifetime of the fish. While Cesium isotopes have longer half-lives (Cs-134 has a half-life of about two years, Cs-137 a longer half-life of about 30 years), the radionuclides also undergo biological excretion and do not continue to build up in fish forever.
What about fish that swim from the reactor site into U.S. fishing waters?
Japan to U.S. waters would take several days under the best of circumstances. Vessels fishing in waters far off U.S. shores must also travel several days to return to port.
It is unlikely that a fish exposed to significant levels of radionuclides near the reactor could travel to U.S. waters and be caught and harvested.
If this improbable trip did occur, the level of short-lived radionuclides such as I-131 would drop significantly through natural radioactive decay during the time needed to make the journey. At this time,
Japanese tests have detected longer-lived radionuclides such as Cs-137 in only a few samples and at levels below FDA DILs. FDA’s testing of fish imported from Japan has not detected the presence of Cs-137.
In the unlikely scenario that pollutants could affect fish that have traveled to the U.S., FDA will work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)to test seafood caught in those areas.
Together FDA and NOAA will also inspect facilities that process and sell seafood from those areas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported low levels of radionuclides in milk in the U.S.
Is this a cause for concern?
At this time, there is no radiation safety risk related to milk produced in the U.S.
EPA monitors milk for radiation under its RADNET program, and has reported extremely low levels of I-131 and Cesium in some milk samples. These results are expected and are far below FDA’s Derived Intervention Levels. Even for a person who drinks a lot of milk, it would be virtually impossible to consume enough milk to approach the level of concern.
As federal and state agencies test milk samples, low levels of I-131 may be found in different samples, and the levels may vary slightly. However these low levels are not expected to cause adverse health effects, even for the developing fetus, babies, or children.
At this time, there is no public health threat in the U.S. related to radiation exposure.
FDA, together with other agencies, is carefully monitoring any possibility for distribution of radiation to the United States.
At this time, theoretical models do not indicate that significant amounts of radiation will reach the U.S. Please see www.epa.gov14 for more information about monitoring efforts.
What will FDA do if grass or feed crop in the US does become contaminated?
FDA's response will depend on the nature of the risk determined to exist. If the grass or feed crop in the U.S. becomes contaminated, FDA will evaluate the risk based on:
A. the extent/type of contamination in terms of radionuclides and their levels
B. the area contaminated and whether it is used for food production
C. if used for food production, what types of foods or crops produced and whether those foods or crops would be further processed and if so, what foods would ultimately result from that further processing.
Addtionally FDA continues to work with its fellow member of the Federal Advisory Team for Environment Food and Health, including EPA, USDA and CDC.
Does FDA recommend that consumers purchase potassium iodide as a protective step?
No. There is no public health event requiring anyone in the U.S. to take KI because of the ongoing situation in Japan.
www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm247403.htm