More Radioactive Vegetables from Fukushima

I wonder how long they (the Japanese government and bureaucrats) can continue to tell the gullible populace that the radiation levels in drinking water, air, sea water are safe, nothing to worry about.

Here come the numbers for vegetables from Fukushima Prefecture, as released by Ministry of Health. (And remember, all they do is to measure; interpretation of the data is to be done by the government experts and announcement to the Japanese people is to be done by the Prime Minister's Office, probably by the prime minister who has to talk "directly" to the Japanese people.)

Asahi Shinbun (in Japanese; 3:29AM JST; 3/23/2011):

Ministry of Heath just announced that the radioactive materials in leafy vegetables and broccoli harvested in Fukushima Prefecture exceeded the provisional safety limit by great margin. The Ministry is advising people not to eat those vegetables from Fukushima.

No. of vegetables found with cesium that exceeds the safety limit: 25
No. of vegetables found with radioactive iodine that exceeds the safety limit: 21

Vegetables with high radioactive materials:

• Kukitachina, from Motomiya City, 60 kilometers from the Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Cesium, 82,000 Becquerel per 1 kilo (164 times the safety limit)

• Spinach, from Tamura City: Cesium, 80 times the safety limit

• Shinobuyuna, from Kawamata-cho: Cesium, 56 times the safety limit; radioactive iodine, 44 times the safety limit

• Broccoli, from Iidate Village: radioactive iodine, 34 times the safety limit.

Ministry of Health warns that continued consumption of these vegetables may result in the radiation exposure that exceeds the safety limit for humans, and advises citizens to not to eat broccoli, leafy vegetables, and cauliflower from Fukushima.

The government committee on nuclear safety will consider halt on shipment and restriction of harvesting of the vegetables in Fukushima.

The article doesn't say which type of cesium or iodine. It does say that cesium-137's half-life is 30 years.

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