ID :
202377
Fri, 08/19/2011 - 16:45
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/202377
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Cattle shipment ban kept for Fukushima, lifted for Miyagi
TOKYO, Aug. 19 Kyodo - The government decided Friday not to lift its ban on cattle shipments from Fukushima Prefecture for some time as beef contaminated with excessive radioactive cesium has been newly detected there, while giving the green light to shipments from Miyagi Prefecture.
The government had planned to lift the ban for Fukushima, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located, along with Miyagi.
Nobutaka Tsutsui, senior farm vice minister, told reporters it will take two or three days for the government to decide about cattle from Fukushima Prefecture.
The government, however, decided Friday to lift its ban on cattle shipments from Miyagi Prefecture, imposed following the discovery of radioactive cesium in beef.
The government instructed Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi prefectures between July and early August to ban cattle shipments and Miyagi is the first to be allowed to resume them.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, radioactive cesium exceeding a provisional safety limit set by the government was detected in a cow transported in April from a farm located within a radius of 20 to 30 kilometers of the nuclear power plant, which has been crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The farm said contaminated rice straw had not been fed to the cow, ministry officials said.
The lifting of the ban for both Miyagi and Fukushima was expected following the compilation by the prefectures of cattle inspection programs and measures to manage radioactive rice straw, which was fed to cattle in the region despite a government notice urging farms not to use it as livestock feed.
When the ban is lifted, farms will be able to restart cattle shipments once the prefectural governments ascertain that radioactive cesium contained in beef from their cattle measures below 500 becquerels per kilogram, a provisional safety limit set by the government.
On July 19, the government instructed the Fukushima government to halt cattle shipments from the prefecture and instructed the Miyagi government on July 28 to do the same.
The government had planned to lift the ban for Fukushima, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located, along with Miyagi.
Nobutaka Tsutsui, senior farm vice minister, told reporters it will take two or three days for the government to decide about cattle from Fukushima Prefecture.
The government, however, decided Friday to lift its ban on cattle shipments from Miyagi Prefecture, imposed following the discovery of radioactive cesium in beef.
The government instructed Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi prefectures between July and early August to ban cattle shipments and Miyagi is the first to be allowed to resume them.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, radioactive cesium exceeding a provisional safety limit set by the government was detected in a cow transported in April from a farm located within a radius of 20 to 30 kilometers of the nuclear power plant, which has been crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The farm said contaminated rice straw had not been fed to the cow, ministry officials said.
The lifting of the ban for both Miyagi and Fukushima was expected following the compilation by the prefectures of cattle inspection programs and measures to manage radioactive rice straw, which was fed to cattle in the region despite a government notice urging farms not to use it as livestock feed.
When the ban is lifted, farms will be able to restart cattle shipments once the prefectural governments ascertain that radioactive cesium contained in beef from their cattle measures below 500 becquerels per kilogram, a provisional safety limit set by the government.
On July 19, the government instructed the Fukushima government to halt cattle shipments from the prefecture and instructed the Miyagi government on July 28 to do the same.
