New York – Concerns about food safety in Tokyo continue to mount as workers scramble to try to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant that was crippled by the killer earthquake-tsunami combination that devastated Japan nearly two weeks ago.
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Radiation levels in Tokyo tap water continue to rise and both the United States and Hong Kong announced a block on dairy and certain produce items from the affected areas.
At the OU offices in midtown Manhattan, Rabbi Moshe Elefant told VIN News in an exclusive interview that the OU will follow the lead of the United States government when it comes to Japanese food imports. The chief products imported from Japan that receive OU supervision are oils and industrial vitamins.
“Whatever USDA and FDA is saying is what we will be doing,” said Rabbi Elefant. “We will let them make these decisions. They are the ones qualified to make these decisions and we just follow the law.”
So to the few Yidden who were happy that this happened and saw it as a punishment for the 2 boychikles in detention there, don’t wish something bad on others because it will come back to you.
Please get over it.
They were lucky they didn’t arrive in Singapore, or Kuala Lampur where the punishment for drug smuggling is the Death Penalty. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Yes, it is a rachmonos but they admitted to knowingly trying to smuggle.
The amounts of radiation measured in the U.S. are so small as to be meaningless….that doesn’t mean there won’t be some fools who will rush out and buy potassium iodide tablets, geiger counters, or who will stop eating sushi.
we use microwaves, cell phones and get xray/ body scanners too
In a word, “No”. The radiation levels in Tokyo water no more than a couple miles from the reactors are about twice the recommended levels for infants. Given how many of the short-lived isotopes have decayed after thousands of miles across the Pacific and how dispersed they are the risks can’t even be measured. They get lost in the statistical noise. They are certainly much less than the effects of H-Bomb tests a few decades ago.
Xkcd.com/radiation has an excellent graphic showing the relative risks.