24 Bq/kg of #Radioactive Cesium from Green Tea (Brewed) in Kanuma City, Tochigi, Highest Level So Far This Year

If the old testing method is used, this tea could contain 2,400 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in dry leaves.

The other sample from Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture also exceeded the new safety limit for brewed tea (10 Bq/kg), with 12 Bq/kg of cesium.

Checking the Kanuma City's website, there is no mention of this test result, even though it was in the news on May 18, 2012 (Shimotsuke Shinbun). Instead, the page for Kanuma's agricultural products has this interesting mention of how to take care of the tea plantations while the shipment of the tea from the city is halted (it has been halted since June last year, after the fresh leaves of tea from the city tested above the provisional safety limit):

茶畑の管理について

通常通り行うことが望ましいと考えられます。刈り取った茶葉、せん定枝は農地に埋却してもかまいません。

Management of the tea plantations

It is considered desirable to do as you have normally done. As for the tea leaves and branches that have been pruned, there is no problem burying them in the farm land.

I believe many tea growers in Kanto did the deep pruning after their tea was found with high radioactive cesium last year. But if they buried the contaminated cuttings in the soil, they may have simply (re-)introduced radioactive cesium in soil which has been absorbed by the tea plants.

There are people (including Professor Hayakawa of Gunma University) who are speculating that radioactive cesium in green tea this year is the result of strong winds in spring that have blown dust particles off the land which landed on the tea leaves. And there are people who argue radioactive cesium was absorbed through the surfaces of old leaves and sent to the roots, so it is now in the tea plants.

In case of Kanuma City, it may have been absorbed from the roots, in addition to the absorption from old leaves from last year.

To freshen up your memory, Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture was the one that fed elementary school children with local beef last October as a PR stunt to prove how safe their beef was. More recently, the city's mayor is very eager to accept the ashes from disaster debris incineration because the national government would foot the bill for upgrading the city's aging final disposal site that needs major repairs.

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City in Tochigi Wants Disaster Debris, So It Can Upgrade Disposal Site on the Government Money

Kanuma City, located just west of Utsunomiya City (prefectural capital of Tochigi), wants to help people in the disaster-affected Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures by accepting the ashes resulting from the burning of the disaster debris elsewhere.

If you read the news by Shimotsuke Shinbun (local Tochigi newspaper), it seems the city is correctly seeing the wide-area disposal of the small amount of disaster debris (less than 20% of total) as an excellent opportunity to have the national government foot the bill for upgrading the waste management facilities and doing the badly needed deferred maintenance.

By no means Kanuma is unique among the cities who have expressed eagerness to accept disaster debris over the concerns of the local residents and residents downwind/downstream.

To the city's request for financial support, the Ministry of the Environment said "yes".

From Shimotsuke Shinbun (4/12/2012):

東日本大震災で発生した岩手、宮城両県のがれきの広域処理で、焼却灰の受け入れを表明している佐藤信鹿沼市長らは11日、環境省を訪れ、がれきの放射性物質検査や最終処分場の施設修繕に対する財政支援を国に要望した。高山智司環境政務官が応対。同市によると、検査強化で新たに生じる費用については国が負担するとの回答があったという。

Kanuma City has expressed interest in accepting the ashes from burning the disaster debris in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures that was generated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake/tsunami. The mayor of the city Shin Sato and his men visited the Ministry of the Environment on April 11 and requested the financial assistance from the national government for testing radioactive materials on the debris and repair the facilities at its final disposal site [where the ashes will be buried]. They were met by Satoshi Takayama, Parliamentary Secretary of the Environment [No.3 position]. According to the city, [Takayama] answered that the national government would pay for the additional cost incurred by more rigorous testing.

　焼却灰を受け入れる予定の一般廃棄物最終処分場「鹿沼フェニックス」（鹿沼市磯町）は１９９３年に埋め立てを始め、約19年が経過。施設が老朽化し、機器類の故障が出ているという。

"Kanuma Phoenix" (Iso-machi, Kanuma City), the city's final disposal landfill for regular [non-industrial] waste where the ashes are to be buried, started operation 19 years ago in 1993. The facilities have deteriorated, and equipments break down often.

　同市は、同処分場で現在行っている放射性物質検査の回数や対象個所を増やす方針で、約３５００万円の費用が掛かると試算。埋め立て地の擁壁やポンプ類の修繕などで計約２２００万円の負担を見込んでいる。

The city plans to increase the number of testing for radioactive materials and the number of locations to be tested on the landfill, and it estimates the cost to be 35 million yen [US$433K]. It also estimates the repair cost for the retaining walls and pumps at the landfill at 22 million yen [US$272K].

The total budget of Kanuma City for the fiscal 2011 was 39.7 billion yen (US$490 million). As with many cities in Japan, Kanuma City's tax revenue covers less than 40% of the city's spending. Upgrading and repairing the disposal site is part of the discretionary spending.

By the way, this is the same city that fed elementary school children with local beef last October as a PR stunt to prove how safe their beef was.

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Tochigi's Tactics to Sell Its Beef: Make Children Eat to "Prove" It's Safe

One of the very popular propaganda campaigns by the governments is to use children to appeal safety. Since the national government, prefectural governments, municipal governments all do it, producers and wholesalers must feel they are not just allowed but encouraged to do the same, and they join in with the governments to exploit small children so that they (think they) can sell their stuff, whatever they are peddling.

Here's the latest from Tochigi Prefecture, where radioactive cesium in the beef exceeded the national provisional safety limit by wide margin and the shipment of the meat had been halted in August, as reported cheerfully by NHK News Japanese (Tokyo Metropolitan version) on October 3, 2011. The link has since been deleted, but the article has been copied at Tokyo Brown Tabby's site, from which I quote in full:

栃木県産牛を給食にしてＰＲ

PR of Tochigi Beef using school lunch

出荷停止の措置が解除された栃木県産の牛の肉を食べてもらおうと、栃木県鹿沼市で小学校の給食に牛肉が入ったハヤシライスが出されました。

To encourage consumers to buy and eat beef made in Tochigi Prefecture, where the shipment ban has been lifted, Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture served "hashed beef over rice" as school lunches in the city's elementary schools.

栃木県産の牛は、肉から国の暫定基準値を超える放射性セシウムが検出され、ことし８月、およそ３週間にわたって出荷が停止されました。

Radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit was detected in the beef from cows raised in Tochigi Prefecture, and the shipment of the cows was halted for 3 weeks in August.

給食は畜産が盛んな地域のひとつ、鹿沼市と地元のＪＡが、出荷停止が解除された県産の牛肉の安全性をＰＲしようと行ったもので、市内８つの小学校に牛肉が入ったハヤシライス、合わせて５０００食が出されました。

This school lunch using the local beef was a PR campaign by Kanuma City and the local JA (agricultural producer co-op) to appeal the safety of the Tochigi beef. Total 5,000 "hashed beef over rice" dishes were served in 8 elementary schools, featuring the local beef.

このうち市立東小学校の１年生の教室には、鹿沼市の佐藤信市長や地元の畜産農家などが集まり、３９人の児童といっしょに給食を食べました。

In the classroom of 1st graders at Higashi Elementary School, Kanuma's Mayor Shin Sato and local cattle farmers joined the 39 pupils for the lunch.

子どもたちは久しぶりに牛肉が入ったメニューをうれしそうに味わっていました。

Children looked happy to eat the dish with beef, which hasn't been used in lunch [since radioactive cesium was detected].

女の子のひとりは、「お肉がやわらかくておいしかったです。もっと食べたいです」と話していました。

One girl said, "The meat was so tender and delicious. I'd like to eat more".

畜産農家の瓦井義男さんは「子どもたちが牛肉を食べる日を楽しみにしてくれていてうれしかったです。これからも安全な牛を生産するので安心して食べてほしい」と話していました。

Yoshio Kawarai, cattle farmer, said "I am glad that children were looking forward to eating the beef. We will continue to raise safe cows, so we want them to feel safe eating the beef".

Needless to say, Tabby is incensed. I feel dizzy with high blood pressure translating the text of the news. They served 1st graders with possibly radioactive beef, and the mayor of the city and cattle farmers were there with the small children to make sure they all ate lunch.

Well, was it radioactive or not? No one will ever know, because Tochigi Prefecture has clearly decided to go Miyagi Prefecture's way - that is, if the measurement is below the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg for radioactive cesium, the government does not bother to tell you how many becquerels.

Here's Tochigi's latest "test" of its beef, on October 3, 2011. Note the right-most column, which shows the amount of radioactive cesium detected. It's all "暫定規制値以下" - "Below the provisional safety limit". It could be ND, it could be 499, but no one's supposed to know and they don't bother to tell.

The same arrogance has been shown by the Miyagi governor who declared that no one needs to know the detailed number as long as it is below 500 becquerels/kg for radioactive cesium.

As Professor Kunihiko Takeda said in his October 3 post, the governments of all levels are in it, the producers and sellers are in it in exploiting small children so that they can "sell" radioactive foods, they shout down the mothers who want to feed their children with radiation-free food, while the fathers strangely look the other way. Professor Takeda pleads with the fathers to join the fight and join the mothers, but the prospect looks bleak so far. Pro-nuke propaganda since 1991 has been a resounding success with the fathers. (Links are in Japanese.)

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