Japan: WHO Studying Radiation Impact From Fukushima Nuclear Plant
By KUNA
The World Health Organization (WHO) is conducting its own study on health effects of food products exposed to radiation leaked into the atmosphere from Japan’s damaged nuclear power complex, Kyodo News Agency reported from Manila on Monday, citing WHO.
“We are working on it,” Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the WHO’s Western Pacific Region, told Kyodo.
He said WHO (World Health Organization) experts in Geneva are looking at the data collected by the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific regional office and are trying to get an understanding of every situation, according to the report.
The Japanese government says radioactive substances above legal limits have been detected in spinach and raw milk produced in areas close to the disaster-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, but the level of contamination is not harmful to human health.
But it ordered local governments to stop spinach and milk produced in the contaminated areas from reaching markets on Monday.
“We don’t know the health effects of consuming this milk and spinach that’s been tested,” Cordingley was quoted as saying, while noting that one-time consumption won’t make any difference at all. “It just depends on how long this goes on and how much is consumed,” he said.
The Fukushima plant, 230 kilometers north of Tokyo, damaged by the tsunami that struck after the massive March 11 earthquake, has sent radioactive substances over extensive areas in eastern Japan.
The Japanese government has evacuated residents within a 20-kilometer zone of the crippled nuclear power station and told residents living within the 20-30 kilometer radius to avoid going outdoors.
