Some Japanese Seaweed has 10,000 Bq/Kg

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2011-05-17 21:02

Greenpeace said:

Last week, we announced that several types of seaweed that fishermen are planning to harvest shows radiation levels over 10,000 Becquerel per kilogram – the upper limit of what our equipment can detect.

Is it safe to eat a little of it?

‹ Any concerns about Plutonium? Time for new Air Sampling-Reactor 4 steaming and smoking ›

an estimate of sea release...

Submitted by LT (not verified) on Sat, 2011-05-21 13:28.

"The firm estimates the total accumulated radiation dispersed in the sea at more than 4,700 trillion becquerels"

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_22.html

There is a simulation of how that activity spread. We haven't been updated on the GreanPeace testing....

Why?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-05-17 21:25.

I wish that I had the answer you are looking for. But, I am just a Forum participant. However, I am curious about your question. Did you already eat some seaweed that you are concerned about, or do you want to know IF it would be okay to eat some of this seaweed at some time in the future?

If this is a possible future gastronomic adventure, I am curious as to why you would even bother taking any chance?

Clearly, regardless of the theoretical "odds," (and you are likely to get answers "all over the board") you'd be better off abstaining. And, as a BIG sushi lover myself, I am suffering! So, I am not minimizing the pain in passing over my favorite meal!

Sure I would like to eat

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-05-17 22:12.

Sure I would like to eat sushi. I ask this question because it is interesting. The 10,000 Bq/KG level is sky high! But the weight of seaweed that you eat in a meal is very low. Just curious if the experts here think it is safe because the weight in each serving is so low.

What is a becquerel? What is

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-05-17 21:17.

What is a becquerel? What is safe?

"Experiments with dogs showed that a single dose of 3800 ?Ci/kg (140 MBq/kg, or approximately 44 ?g/kg) is lethal within three weeks."

140MBq/kg = 140,000,000 Bq/Kg

Are you going to drop dead if you eat that seaweed? No
Are you increasing your chances of developing cancer if you eat that seaweed for a long time? Yes

The Japanese government set a limit of 500 Bq/Kg for Cesium, which means the local authorities would not consider that seaweed appropriate for human consumption.