Food Safety Group Applauds AMA Call to Test Seafood for Radiation Due to Fukushima

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The deafening silence around Fukushima’s impact on our food supply is lifting, thanks in major part to a recent move by the American Medical Association (AMA).  Since March 11, 2011 there has been very little discussion by the U.S. government or in the media other than to say that everything is fine.  Unfortunately, it isn’t fine.  Radionuclides have been detected in U.S seaweed, California bluefin tuna, rainwater, groundwater, topsoil, dairy and agricultural products.   And the situation at Fukushima is only getting worse.  Officials in Japan announced a State of Emergency the first week of August, 2013 when TEPCO, the operator of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, admitted what many experts had feared for a long time:  radioactive water was continuing to pour into the Pacific at an alarming rate.

As founder of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) www.FFAN.us and author of  “Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout..A Mother’s Response”  www.silencedeafening.com , I’ve become part of a large community that has been working tirelessly on this issue, regardless of the perceived silence surrounding it for nearly 2 and 1/2 years.  We were glad to learn about AMA’s  resolution calling on the government to test all seafood for radiation.  Back on March 12, 2013 FFAN member groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health, and Ecological Options Network filed a legal document with the FDA (known as a “Citizen Petition) calling for a dramatic decrease in the current allowable levels of radioactive Cesium in food, nutritional supplements, and pharmaceuticals.   A Citizen Petition is unique in that the FDA is legally required to respond.  We need everyone to help by commenting at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2013-P-0291 today.  It’s important to keep the faith and remember that protective regulations for our food aren’t handed to us, in reality  the fight to protect organic standards has been going on for a long time and we need to be vigilant.  The Organic Consumers Association has endorsed the petition, please join them in commenting today.   http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2013-P-0291

Here is the press release issued by FFAN on the issue. To read a copy with live links go to http://ffan.us/?page_id=28:

Washington, DC — (SBWIRE) — 07/30/2013 — 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

CONTACT:
Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Specialist at Beyond Nuclear
240-354-4314
Sean Witzling, Esq. Swankin and Turner
202-462-8800

 

Kimberly Roberson
Kimberly Roberson is a certified Diet Counselor and Nutrition Educator and has served on the board of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. She has worked at Sane/Freeze, CALPIRG and Greenpeace USA, and lobbied for environmental and natural health issues on the state and federal level, and at the Food and Drug Administration. Kimberly is the founder and Executive Director of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network. She is the author of "Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout...A Mother's Response", available in print and ebook at http://amzn.to/12Nu4jv and may be reached at www.NewHealthDesign.com