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Kyodo News via AP
A can of Meiji Step powdered milk for infants. Traces of radiation from the hobbled Japanese nuclear plant were detected in the baby formula Tuesday prompting a product recall.
Radioactive cesium has been found in cans of powdered baby milk in Japan, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, in the latest food scare following the meltdowns of reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The paper, which operates behind a paywall, said the amount found was below the level that the government considered dangerous, but noted that young children were the most vulnerable age group to radioactivity.
The company, Meiji Holdings, said Tuesday that cesium 137 and 139 had been found in its Meiji Step baby milk formula, the Journal reported.
Up to 30.8 becquerels per kilogram were found, well below the 200 becquerels per kilogram that the government considers to be the limit, the paper said.
The Associated Press reported that Meiji was recalling cans with expiration dates of October 2012 as a precaution.
Experts said children are more at risk than are adults of getting cancer and other illnesses from radiation exposure.
"There is no problem because the levels are within the government limit," Kazuhiko Tsurumi, a Health Ministry official in charge of food safety, said of the radiation in Meiji milk.
Airborne radiation
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan sent three reactors into meltdown at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which have been spewing radiation into the air and ocean.
Some of that radiation has crept into food, such as rice, fish and beef. But this was the first time radiation was reported in baby formula.
Kyodo News said airborne radioactive cesium contaminated milk as it was being dried at a plant in Saitama prefecture in March, citing the company.
The company was not immediately available for comment late Tuesday.
Meiji has about 40 percent of domestic baby formula sales, but the amount of recalled formula wasn't disclosed.
The product is exported to Vietnam under a different name, Kyodo reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Everything is radioactive !!
Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there that don't understand that.
Mitchell
To a point, yes. It's called 'background radiation'.
Submariners have fun with civilians by joking about all the mutations from the radiation. Many people don't realize they get less radiation exposure than people on the surface do.
While everything is radioactive to an extent, Cs in milk is certainly not something you want. At least it's not Sr-90, but still, Cs-137 (the isotope likely for concern due to its clear link to Fukushima) is acutely toxic, linked to not only death but infertility and cancer. The human body can indeed flush Caesium, much more easily that Strontium, but at the same time, it's still somewhat alarming.
Still, it's not something to freak out and about and start buying plastic sheeting and duct tape, but it should be monitored.
As to the background radiation effects, there's an interesting statistic -- the average nuclear power plant worker is exposed to significantly less radiation annually than the average flight attendant.
First you have to believe the govenment stats., and their track record has not been stellar in the matter. Secong, who the hell wants any radiation in their baby's milk??????? hello Any extra radiation, combined with God knows how much they have received, is too much, IMHO
Michelle, there are always radioactive isotopes in any/all milk regardless of the source of milk, without exception. Please reread Matt's second paragraph. It's not that we should just ignore it, but as long as it's within acceptable levels, you don't need to shout 'the sky is falling'.
Mitchell
EDITORS: You may want to check the spelling in the title! ( There's an O in radioactive )
"O" Oh!
The guy in India gOOfed again!
This story broke yesterday (i.e., 6 December, Japan Standard Time) in Japan, but we haven't heard all that much more about it.
The Saitama area mentioned in the story is south of the Fukushima Dai Ichi nuclear power plant.
soon to be found under a different name in the USA...
Glow in the dark babies..can't lose track of them even in a power failure.
Cow milk is bad for you period. it has blood, puss and other enymes meant for the cow's baby; the calf. Shocker!
FYI to All That Is...
I grew up on a farm and drank milk directly from the cow. I am in better health than most of the city kids I went to school with. That is the problem with most people now-a-days... Eating foods that have lots of chemicals in them. If people ate fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and drank normal milk, then they would be a lot heathier and not have so many allergies to things in life.
Something tells me that's not how mommy used to make it.
what else is radioactive that's coming from japan, don't want that stuff in My house.....
You probably have little to no food in your house from Japan in the first place... (Japan doesn't actually have enough farmable land for much in the way of food production. This is why they eat so much fish and rice. Japan depends on imported food. And, what food they do produce... Japan takes food safety a great deal more serious than the United States.) They largely export electronics and cars to the states, no? Things which already have some level of radiation, no? Among other toxins, which is not Japan's fault, but the fault of just the way those products are meant to be. And, it's lovely how you're acting like they got hit by a tsunami and got radiation leakage on purpose just to get you with imports... Very considerate... Very mature... Very rational (AKA sane)... I imagine you're a xenophobe.
Amazing to read posts from people essentially saying that cesium in babies formula isn't a problem. Reminds me of when DDT was being promoted as so safe you could eat it. And they literally did. You can still find the film clip in various documentaries of a guy eating it by the spoonful. But hey, at least he was walking his talk.
I'd like to know how many fools who would tell you that cesium in baby formula is nothing to be concerned about would eat some of it themselves. I'd pay money to see that.
Ok Owen,
We are going to do a little math/comparison here. So one bequerel is equal to one radioactive decay (in the case of cesium a beta particle). So the article states that there are 30 bequerels of cesium in the milk (equaling 30 decays/second). That sounds like a lot.
So how does that relate to the number of cells in the human body. During a quick search online it is estimated that there are somewhere between 1 and 100 trillion (1,000,000,000,000 - 100,000,000,000,000). Granted that a baby would be smaller and also have fewer cells we'll stick with the smaller end of the range. How long would it take for one radiation to hit each cell? 30,000,000,000 seconds, 555,555,555 minutes, 9,259,259 hours, 385,802 days, and finally 1056 years.
Granted the cesium is probably not spread out over the entire body equally. There is more to the issue than just the amount of cells being irradiated. Cesium in baby formula is a problem, however, the government (scientist more knowledgable than me) have set limits to what is safe. These limits are probably well below the actual limit where someone would be harmed. The "fools" saying that cesium in baby formula are not saying that. They are saying that the levels of cesium in baby formula are not concerning.
I guess, to be cavalier about it all, if anyone should have experience with radiation it would be Japan. Sad that this far down the road from Hiroshima they are still dealing with it.
What was considered to be the safe level in February 2011. I remember milk in the States exceeded the acceptable level of radiation in the sixties due to all the atmospheric nuclear bomb tests during the '50s and '60s. They fixed it though. They raised the acceptable level of radiation in milk.
I doubt whether the machinery products made in japan such as cars also contain radioactive particles?
Are you implying everyone should stop trade with Japan so their economy will crash and diet will become scarce? It wouldn't be very nice if that's what you're after. Japan did not cause the tsunami, or the power plant leakage. Do not treat the victims as if they were terrorists. Xenophobes irritate me. Completely ignorant, and insane.
I don't think Adi is calling anybody anything, Anonymous. But he's probably thinking of Japan's exports maybe being contaminated and further exposing others. Get off your high horse.
Godzilla will arrive any day now. . . . If I traveled to Japan I'd want a geiger counter with me at all times.
willy-3058163: Having a Geiger counter at all times wouldn't do you much good, but you can rent them (now) easily (at video rental shops) in many neighborhoods. People use them mostly to check their own (minuscule) yards and the grounds of the schools their children go to, but there are so many sources for Geiger counter readings in most parts of Tokyo that there really isn't much need.
Whence,
I'm going to invent a dihydrogen monoxide detector. That way if I travel around the world I can tell if there is a chance of dying of dihydrogen monoxide inhalation. Now if I can just get some natural disaster that involved dihydrogen monoxide. Oh Wait! There was dihydrogen monoxide released in the Tsunami!!! Now if I can just sell my detector to people like Willy, I'll be a billionaire!!! Eureka!!
Cheap journalism, again. No harm to anybody bat big headline for nothing. So typical for our biased media. You guys suck!