Tea and radiation in Japan

Even after the nuclear accident, I have not stopped drinking Japanese tea.  I understand that tea in the market is basically regulated and safe.

Konnichiwa, it’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  The other day, I attended a workshop about “Tea and radiation”.  It was lectured by Mr. Nakamura from the Shizuoka prefecture chagyo-kenkyu center (http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/sangyou/sa-820/).  This workshop included some scientific information and technical data, and it was difficult for me to follow those parts.

However, the overall main idea is …

l  The radiation exists in our daily lives since before the incident and we are exposed to it at some level.  You can’t make it “0” zero. 

l  At the moment, nobody can tell that you'll get cancer just by the number of radiation you are exposed to.  What you can only say is that less is better.  The risk of getting cancer with radiation is quite the same as getting one by smoking.  You can’t exactly tell how many cigarettes does one have to take to develop cancer.

l  The government set a very low maximum contamination point for tea so most Japanese tea is perfectly safe.   It is indicated that tea can only have the maximum of 500 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium.  Anything beyond that is rejected.

One of the data that I was interested in was the difference of the regulation at each organization.  It appears that even on this date, Japanese regulation is quite strict among those organizations.

Regulation for radioactive cesium in tea

<><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><>

	Cs
Japan	500
EU	1250⇒500(since Apr8 2011)
WHO	1000
IAEA	3000 (Cs134:1000,  Cs137:2000)
Codex	1000
USA	1200

This data is from the workshop.

I got better understanding of the limit of radiation and still feel confident to buy tea.  Jah!



Edit on Oct 31 2011

Other entries about the radiation and tea

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-tea-from-japan-safe.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/restriction-of-tea-leaves.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/do-you-know-of-aracha.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on_08.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/10/tea-and-radiation-in-japan-2.html

Edited on Nov 4

New entry about tea and radiation

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/11/tea-production-regions-far-from.html