Japan’s nuclear disaster: is our food safe?

Nova Corcoran

Recent news coverage of Japan’s tsunami and the resulting nuclear plant damage has been making the news headlines daily. The main risks to human health from nuclear plant damage aside from the possible effects of radiation sickness and direct exposure is actually from food. There are now reports of Asian eateries refusing to stock some Japanese food products (Balfour 2011) which may encourage sushi lovers to think twice about their lunchtime meal. In truth there is little risk to our health from contaminated food unless you happen to drink milk or tap water from the Fukushima area which for most of us is highly unlikely.

Interestingly food that is exposed to radiation does not always make it harmful to human health. Some foods such as fruit are irradiated* to increase shelf life. There are also sources of naturally occurring radiation in our food transferred from rocks, soil and water. These are very low levels of radiation which pose little risk to human health. Artificial radiation such as that from the Fukushima nuclear plant can enter the food chain in the same way. For example cows eat contaminated grass, and secrete radioactive iodine in their milk. Levels of artificial radiation are considerably higher than those occurring naturally.

Contaminated food is problematic as radioactive particles are more dangerous when digested causing internal irradiation of organs, and damaging our DNA thus increasing cancer risks (Beckett 2011; FSA 2011). The most common of these cancers is thyroid cancer. The link to food consumption becomes clearer with the knowledge that if in the Ukraine, after the Chenobyl nuclear disaster measures were taken to stop people drinking milk exposure to radiation would have been reduced thus lowering thyroid cancer risks (Grady 2011).

In Fukushima milk and spinach have been found to have higher than normal levels of radiation but even these levels are still pose small risk to health (Shears 2011). The New York Times noted that other potential food sources that show signs of contamination include wild berries, mushrooms, animals and freshwater i.e. lakes and these may be contaminated for years to come. However these are contaminated with the particulate cesium rather than iodine which has a shorter life span (around 8 days). Cesium is not stored in any one part of the body and increases the overall cancer risk by a very small amount (Narayan et al 2011).

There is currently little threat to the UK or European food chain from the Fukushima disaster. Radioactive elements are heavy and do not travel far so contamination is likely to be limited to local areas in Japan. In addition seawater contamination is not too problematic for fish or seafood as the sea covers such a large area and radiation is diluted. So for now eat your sushi and enjoy - radiation is likely to have very little effect on your daily lunch.

*The process of exposing food to ionizing radiation. This has a variety of purposes such as to reduce bacteria, microorganisms or delay ripening.