Source:
ReutersWHO warns of "serious" food radiation in disaster-hit Japan
By Junko Fujita and Kazunori Takada
TOKYO | Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:31am EDT
(Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was a "serious situation," eclipsing the first clear signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in the reactors.
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The health ministry has urged some residents near the Daiichi plant in Fukushima to stop drinking tap water after high levels of radioactive iodine were detected.
Cases of contaminated vegetables and milk have already stoked anxiety despite assurances from officials that the levels are not dangerous. The government has prohibited the sale of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture and spinach from a nearby area.
"Quite clearly it's a serious situation," Peter Cordingley, Manila-based spokesman for the World Health Organisation's (WHO) regional office for the Western Pacific, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's a lot more serious than anybody thought in the early days when we thought that this kind of problem can be limited to 20 to 30 kilometers ... It's safe to suppose that some contaminated produce got out of the contamination zone."
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110321