WATCH UNDT!!!! March 30, 2012 - Mainichi Daily News - Fukushima farming areas hope new cesium limits will ease radiation concerns - Farming areas affected by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima have expressed hope that a new radiation limit for food will help them promote the safety of local products, but some still wonder whether consumer confidence can be restored. The new radioactivity limit for cesium of 100 becquerels per kilogram is due to go into effect on April 1. "It's a standard that moves further toward the side of safety," said an official of the Fukushima Prefectural Government's agriculture, forestry, and fisheries division. "We want to keep providing test results so that consumers can have confidence in products." The new standard has been seen as a chance to promote the safety of local food products, and the prefecture is set to introduce more detailed sampling of vegetables, testing at least one sample in every five hectares, instead of the current 20 hectares. Officials are also urging fruit and vegetable producers to conduct their own tests, and will place 120 basic testing devices at agricultural cooperatives and at other locations ahead of the summer season when shipments move into full swing.
March 30, 2012 - Philadelphia Inquirer - Radioactive iodine in Phila. water tied to thyroid patients - Radioactive iodine in water tied to thyroid patients Autism cases rise; reasons not certain Highmark official charged in assault case Video: Healthy Kids Minute: UV sunglasses More Health »Government officials have now confirmed what they strongly suspected a year ago: The radioactive iodine-131 in some of the region's waterways, also found in minute amounts in Philadelphia's drinking water, is coming from thyroid patients. After patients swallow the chemical in capsule or liquid form, some of it passes into their urine, which then enters the wastewater-treatment system and winds up in rivers that provide drinking water, the officials said. Philadelphia's water is safe, according to officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Philadelphia Water Department, and the city Department of Health. They said levels of iodine-131 have remained well below federal drinking-water limits. The substance has a half-life of eight days, which means that every eight days, the radioactivity is reduced by half. It would be considered gone after 80 days. Iodine-131's presence, they said, is likely a new reality of modern medicine. "The goal is zero. We can't get to that," said David Allard, director of the DEP's Bureau of Radiation Protection.