Posted on ENE News
Fukushima Farmers Negotiate with Japanese Government,
Published August 31, 2013 –
Farmer from Sukagawa, 60 km west of Fukushima Daiichi (at 1:45 in):
Do you understand the meaning of ‘de’ in the word decontamination? We are just tilling deeply and spreading the radiation thinly. We are not removing the contamination. No wonder that the radiation level has not gone down. We measured the radioactivity in the air. It has not gone down at all. We have not removed the contaminated soil. Of course not! The environment has not changed at all 2 years after the explosions. […] In Fukushima, all farm produce must be checked for the cesium level prior to shipping. The current government limit is 100 becquerels. The farmers know how many becquerels of cesium their produce contains. We can ship them if the reading is lower than 100. But I would not dare eat them myself. The consumers assume there is no radiation in the food they buy. […] We farmers know better. We feel guilty about growing it and selling it. We won’t eat it ourselves, but we sell it.
Watch the emotional speeches from the Fukushima farmers here [1]
Then this very alarming report from Japan Times —
Aug 19, 2014
Exports of Fukushima-grown rice have resumed after being suspended by the nuclear crisis in March 2011 amid soaring concerns about radiation contamination, a national agricultural cooperative said Monday.
Soaring concerns? Soaring radiation counts that keep going up. Scientists and medical professionals are very worried about the effects.
A shipment of 300 kg of Koshihikari brand rice produced in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, has arrived in Singapore to be sold at a supermarket Friday after clearing customs, according to the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.
Fukushima Prefecture was a major producer of rice and had exported some 100 tons to Hong Kong and similar areas before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant.
No rice produced in Fukushima was ever exported after the core meltdowns, the cooperative said.
This year’s exports of agricultural and marine products were valued at ¥284 billion from January to June, up 10.3 percent from a year ago, buoyed by growing popularity of Japanese cuisine. But exports from Fukushima have stayed sluggish amid persistent concern about radioactive contamination from the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 complex, which was recently linked to rice contamination elsewhere in the prefecture reportedly caused by cleanup efforts at the plant that kicked radiation-tainted dust into the air.
This is a lie. The radioactive releases contaminating air and water are ongoing and increasing. Strontium started spiking upward last year. Large areas of Japan are contaminated. The area around the power plants is highly contaminated.
A number of countries and regions still impose restrictions on farm products from the prefecture. Singapore had banned imports of some foods from Fukushima but lifted it in May.
Reprinted under Fair Use Rules due to the emergency.
[1]
http://enenews.com/rice-grown-near-fukushima-plant-cleared-for-sale-farmer-i-would-not-dare-eat-it-myself-we-farmers-know-better-we-feel-guilt-about-growing-it-and-selling-it-video
Rice grown nearby Fukushima plant cleared for sale — Farmer: “I would not dare eat it… We feel guilty about growing it and selling it” (VIDEO), October 11, 2013
Heal Fukushima 