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Any one who loves their kitchen would want to have big windows to let in the golden rays. It is no surprise that with the increase in human density,buildings that sprung up tend to steal the light which would otherwise shower your kitchen. It is therefore very important that you choose your curtainsin your kitchen wisely.
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Radiation poisoning of food supply in Japan 'is a lot more serious' than first feared, as eggs and milk go on 'danger list'
By Richard Shears In TokyoLast updated at 1:12 AM on 22nd March 2011
- Thick black smoke continues to pour from Fukushima nuclear plant
- Taiwan reports radioactive contamination of Japanese imports
- Japanese restaurant in Taipei offers customers use of radiation gauge
- Death now thought to be as high as 18,000
More serious than thought: A medical staff checks radiation levels of a resident in Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture
The impact of radiation on the food chain in Japan is far more serious than first thought, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday.
Tap water, leafy vegetables, eggs, meat and milk in a 50-mile radius of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant were placed on its ‘danger list’.
The organisation warned that Japan needed to act ‘quickly’ and ban food sales from areas around the plant if products there are found to contain excessive levels of radiation.
A spokesman for the Geneva-based agency said radiation in food can accumulate in the body and that it poses a greater risk to health than radioactive particles in the air, which disperse within days.
WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley said: ‘It’s a lot more serious than anybody thought in the early days when we thought that this kind of problem can be limited to 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 18 miles).
‘It’s safe to suppose that some contaminated produce got out of the contamination zone.’
Taiwan has already reported that it has found a small amount of radiation on a shipment of broad beans from southern Japan during an inspection of its imports at the weekend – and some major hotel chains and restaurants in Asia have stopped importing raw foods from Japan.
Alarm: Black smoke rises from the Number 3 reactor at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant after staff were evacuated this morning
Screening: Workers in radiation protection suits go through instructions before carrying out tests in Iwaki city
Test: A little boy is checked for signs of radiation in Yonezawa. Cooling pumps and fans have not been switched on at the power plant as they are tested for damage
At Fukushima, clouds of thick black smoke poured out of the plant’s No.3 reactor yesterday, adding to fears that radiation levels would dramatically increase.
Firemen blasting water into the plant reactors and a courageous group of engineers working inside the complex – which houses six reactors – were ordered to leave immediately during the afternoon when smoke billowed into a rainy sky.
It was yet another disruption to frantic efforts to stem the leakage of radiation, with firemen and plant employees already being restricted to just a few minutes work at a time before seeking shelter to avoid over-exposure to radiation.
Technicians working inside an evacuation zone around the stricken plant have finally managed to attach power cables to all six reactors and started a water pump at one of them to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods.
‘We see a light for getting out of the crisis,’ an official quoted prime minister Naoto Kan as saying, allowing himself some rare optimism in Japan’s toughest moment since World War II.
WHO safety expert Peter Embarek said there could be more cases of contamination within Japan, but he did not think radiation-affected products would find their way into the international market.
Grim: Workers dig mass graves in Higashimatsushima City as the death toll for the earthquake and tsunami reached 18,000
Temporary: Japanese construction workers build shelters for evacuees in Rikuzentakata, which was destroyed by the tsunami
Stricken: Four of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant are overheating. Experts said even if the coolers were too badly damaged, having power would help with pumping water into the reactors
RADIOACTIVE DUST ON SPINACH
The highest concentrations of radioactive elements have been found in milk and spinach.
Professor Steve Jones, an independent nuclear consultant, said its large leaf area means spinach collects more radioactive dust from the air than smaller vegetables.
Tests on milk, leeks and spinach have revealed higher than legal levels of two radioactive elements – iodine-131 and caesium-137 – at least 75 miles from the Fukushima plant.
But experts stressed the levels were too low to pose a health risk. An adult eating the contaminated spinach and milk would be exposed to around 0.05millisieverts (mSv) a day – or ten times the normal daily dose of background radiation we get from the environment.
It is only above levels of 100mSV that the risk of cancer increases by a detectable amount.
However, babies would be exposed to much higher levels – of 0.24mSv a day –because their growing thyroid glands absorb more iodine.
Professor Steve Jones, an independent nuclear consultant, said its large leaf area means spinach collects more radioactive dust from the air than smaller vegetables.
Tests on milk, leeks and spinach have revealed higher than legal levels of two radioactive elements – iodine-131 and caesium-137 – at least 75 miles from the Fukushima plant.
But experts stressed the levels were too low to pose a health risk. An adult eating the contaminated spinach and milk would be exposed to around 0.05millisieverts (mSv) a day – or ten times the normal daily dose of background radiation we get from the environment.
It is only above levels of 100mSV that the risk of cancer increases by a detectable amount.
However, babies would be exposed to much higher levels – of 0.24mSv a day –because their growing thyroid glands absorb more iodine.
Fears about radiation traces being found in Tokyo tap water have resulted in many customers refusing the traditional glass of water served automatically in restaurants and hotels.
While there have been no major reports of contaminated food in Tokyo – which has a population of around 13million – the discovery of higher than acceptable levels of iodine in an edible form of chrysanthemum have raised concerns.
The governments of China and South Korea have joined Taiwan in announcing they will now monitor all food imported from Japan.
Such was the concern in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, that a leading Japanese restaurant has started offering customers the use of a radiation gauge.
More than 18,000 people are now thought to have died in the disaster.
The cost of rebuilding Japan, an operation that could take up to five years, was estimated to be around £145billion – but even if the smashed towns along the north east coast of Honshu island can ever be replaced, many survivors have said they do not want to return.
Evacuation: Satomi Osumi, 18, and her family were moved away from Fukushima to a refuge centre north of Tokyo
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