Poster by Laura Lynch Art by Rachel Gertrude Johnson Caption by Mary Beth Brangan
[ Scroll down for video report on radiation monitoring in food – by Cindy Folkers. ]
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently passed a resolution asking the US FDA to monitor and fully report the radioactivity levels of edible Pacific Ocean species sold in the United States.
EON is a member of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN). FFAN released a press statement applauding this recognition by the AMA that the US public has a right to know radioactivity levels in their Pacific seafood and the potential health risks posed.
FFAN now asks that the AMA support the FFAN official citizen petition effort to get the US FDA to lower the levels of radiation that are currently permitted in our overall food supply.
At this time, US ‘guidelines’ allow for 1200 bq./kg, one of the highest in the world. Japan’s limit is 100, so food too contaminated to be sold in Japan could be sold here in the U.S.
FFAN has also created a public petition which will go to the FDA, US Congress and President Obama.
PRESS RELEASE
Food Safety Group Applauds Recent American Medical Association Recommendation
to Test U.S. Seafood for Radiation
FFAN urges responsible, transparent testing guidelines and national database for seafood radiation. Wants results made public.
For Immediate Release
July 23, 2013 ~ Washington DC
Contact : Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Specialist at Beyond Nuclear ~ 240-354-4314
Sean Witzling, Esq. Swankin and Turner ~ 202-462-8800
Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) today applauded the recent American Medical Association (AMA) resolution that calls on the U.S. government to test all U.S. seafood for radiation and fully report the results to the public. The AMA joins FFAN in demanding the public’s ‘Right to Know’ regarding radiation levels in food. The California Medical Association (CMA) initiated the resolution.
In March of 2013, in response to the worst ongoing nuclear disaster in history at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, FFAN coalition member groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health and Ecological Options Network filed a legal Citizen Petition through the official process of the United States Department of Health Services Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FFAN Citizen Petition points out that the U.S. currently has the highest allowable limits for radioactive Cesium 134 and 137 in the world, 12 times higher in fact than Japan’s. “Food and beverages that are considered far too dangerous for consumption in Japan can be exported to U.S. citizens, including vulnerable children and pregnant women. This is an outrageous radioactive loophole that our lawmakers and FDA must address immediately,” states Kimberly Roberson, FFAN Director and author of “Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout.” Roberson continues, “We appreciate the AMA’s call for testing and encourage all to speak out for the additional steps required to protect our children as the current U.S. limits are still dangerously high.”
To that end, FFAN has petitioned the FDA to accept their petition into official process and lower the amount of man-made radiation currently allowed in U.S. food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals.
After the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded, children in Belarus were found to have heart and hormonal problems with approximately 1% of the current U.S. limit for radioactive Cesium in their bodies.
“We must demand our right to know what’s in our food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical products. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that there is no safe dose of radiation, therefore we reject the current FDA radiation in food policy. The limit the FDA has set will doom a certain number of people to unnecessary disease, particularly children who are much more vulnerable to radiation,” says Cindy Folkers of Beyond Nuclear.
On July 10, 2013, the Japan Times reported that rising radioactivity levels in seawater off the coast of Fukushima measured 90,000 times more than officially “safe” drinking water. This is in ocean water that migratory fish, such as bluefin tuna spawn and swim in before crossing the Pacific to U.S. coastal waters. Bluefin tuna caught off San Diego in an August 2012 study demonstrated elevated amounts of Cesium 134 and 137, which are considered characteristic isotopic markers for Fukushima radiation.
Both AMA and FFAN want a national database, and we invite others to join us in demanding that FDA reduces the amount of radiation permitted in our food.
Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) is a coalition of groups and concerned citizens working for safe food policy in the U.S. For more information please visit www.FFAN.us and www.silencedeafening.com
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Food Monitoring After Fukushima
Cindy Folkers – Beyond Nuclear
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