[YWCA Forum] Our Food, is it Safe from Radiation

On November 18 (Tuesday) at 2p.m., Seoul YWCA along with members and 80 participating citizens, opened a forum regarding the recent social problem of radiation and food safety. During the lecture, YooJin Lee, from the planning committee of the center of energy politics, chaired the meeting.

Radiation and Food Safety

2 years and 7 months have passed since Fukushima’s nuclear accident. Prime minister, Abe Shinzo, declared that Fukushima’s radiation is being completely controlled. However, TEPCO has announced that “10 million becquerel of radiation per hour is still being emitted.” Radioactive ‘substances cannot be felt through any of the five senses, and does not disappear with any chemical treatment. Radiation exposure limits are also set by the government according to the commercial interests and are not medically based. The reference value of 1mSv set by the government has the possibility of causing 10,000 people to acquire cancer. Unless the value is zero, there is no such thing as safe radiation exposure.

With public anxiety about radioactive contamination increasing, we propose the following policy to the government. All food imports from Japan should be banned. Rapid inspection of Japan’s marine products should be suspended and instead Korean Food Standards Codex’s ‘ten thousand seconds test’ should be implemented. Russia, China, and domestic fishery products should also be checked in the same way for radioactivity. Little to non-traceable amounts of contamination found in Japanese food also need to show the non-polluted certificate. Strontium and plutonium must also be included into the list of test items. The government should cooperate with China, Russia, etc. to monitor radioactive contamination of the ocean and information should be disclosed. Test results on baby products, cosmetics, industrial products and industrial materials, and radioactive waste, etc., should also be disclosed and relevant authorities and departments should be unified.