Japan’s Prime Minister ate fish caught off Fukushima’s coast on Wednesday to alleviate fears after the controversial release of water from the disabled Ōkuma nuclear power station.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three Cabinet ministers enjoyed sashimi fished off the coast of Fukushima at a lunch meeting on Wednesday, in an apparent effort to dispel safety concerns following the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
According to Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who was at the lunch meeting, Kishida and the three lawmakers sat down to a spread of flounder, octopus and seabass as well as boiled pork, fruits and various vegetables in the leader’s office.
“We eat in support of the Sanriku Joban region. All seafood items from Sanriku Joban are full of appeal,” Kishida told reporters who were invited to film the meal.
While I understand the science behind the release of the wastewater; I also really do understand why people are so willing to ban this.
It doesn’t matter if it is safe to eat or not. People have a right to not partake in fish from the Fukushima area. Nobody should have the right to conceal origin information about food items in general, particularly not when food may contain things that are potentially impactful to a person’s health.
40 μSv might be a “Safe” exposure over time; but that doesn’t mean it’s completely without health impacts. People are within their rights to avoid that extra dose if they feel the risk is unnecessary; no matter how small that risk may be.
It is, though. The water is literally less radioactive than normal ocean water.
Okay, but are there verifiable health impacts? Because I haven’t heard of any so far.
I agree wholeheartedly about not concealing origin information when food may contain things potentially impactful to their health. The difference is that even drinking straight tritiated water (at the Japanese release concentration) as your only beverage for an entire year is 1/10th the exposure you would get from a single mammogram. There is zero potential for any health impacts from this release of tritiated water. I direct your attention to this well-sourced chart from Randall Munroe to give a good visual on different relative radiation doses. One year of drinking tritiated water at a concentration of 1500 Bq/L (the concentration its being released at, and about 1/10th of the WHO limit) gives a dose of approx. 40 μSv, the same as the cross country flight in the above graphic.