Traces of radiation found in Japanese baby formula
Do not feed your babies formula from Japan!
REPORTING FROM SEOUL -– A Japanese baby food manufacturer has announced the recall of 400,000 cans of infant formula that reportedly contain traces of radioactive cesium connected to the nation’s recent nuclear plant meltdown.
After panicked parents deluged Tokyo-based Meiji Co. with calls and e-mails, officials of the Tokyo-based food and candy maker responded Wednesday that they do not know how much of the tainted formula had reached consumers, but said the milk was manufactured in March and April and shipped not long afterward.
The incident marked the second time this week that skittish Japanese citizens learned of more radioactive after-effects from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The facility was struck March 11 by an earthquake-triggered tsunami that knocked out its cooling system and led to several reactor core meltdowns that spewed radiation into the air, water and soil.…Experts also worried about the detection of strontium, which they said remains in the body for much longer than cesium and therefore presents a graver health hazard. Some independent sources have estimated that 80 gallons or more of strontium-tainted water have run into the ocean, twice the amount claimed by Tepco, Vande Putte said.
Worse yet, he said, radiation detection devices used by the Japanese government to scan vegetable and seafood products are not capable of isolating strontium.
“It’s expensive and difficult to detect strontium,” Vande Putte said. “If this stuff gets into the food chain, it would present complications of mammoth proportions.”
Although radiation has been detected in a food in Japan, including vegetables and fish, this is the first time that poisonous isotopes have been found in baby formula. Government officials nonetheless downplayed the significance of the findings.…