Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
377493 tn?1356502149

At least the US is testing their milk...how is this for messed up

Canadian health agencies have no immediate plans to measure the amount of radiation in milk following Japan's nuclear crisis despite the demands of B.C. dairy farmers who want officials to follow the U.S. and test dairy products.

"There will be no testing of milk," Alice Danjou, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said Friday.

The news came as a disappointment to Robin Smith, executive director of the BC Milk Producers Association, which earlier this week called on the agency to test the milk in an effort to prove to the public the levels are low enough to consume.

Smith raised his concerns after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it had found traces of radioactive iodine in milk in Spokane, Wash., about 600 kilometres southeast of Vancouver. But the agency stressed that the levels were 5,000 times below those considered dangerous.

"If there is radioactive iodine in the milk we want to know about it," said Smith.

"This is a $400-million-a-year industry -the biggest farm industry in British Columbia -and milk goes to every household, so we're really concerned about that. We don't want people thinking there is something wrong with it when there isn't."

Although negligible amounts of radiation have been found on the West Coast, Health Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission -the bodies responsible for monitoring radiation levels -say the measurements they are seeing "pose absolutely no risk to people, plants or animals in Canada," said Danjou.

"Of course we are absolutely monitoring the situation and we are prepared to take further action if and when required, but at this point we are not."

Smith's concern is authorities are only looking at the radioactive levels in the environment and not food products.

"I don't think they're responding appropriately to the public's concerns. Don't just tell us it's safe. Prove it," he said.

"We have a very safe product. We don't have hormones in our milk or antibiotics and we don't want any radioactive isotopes in our milk either."

The CFIA is also working with Public Safety Canada, the FDA, the World Health Organization and the government of Japan, Danjou said.

"This is an international effort and a governmentwide effort."

In a joint statement Wednesday, the United States' FDA and Environmental Protection Agency said radiation findings are to be expected in the coming days, and "are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children."

Scientists said the amount of iodine-131 is minuscule compared with what a person would be exposed to on a round-trip crosscountry flight or watching TV.

Although the CFIA is not doing any additional testing of domestically produced food at this time, the agency said that if testing for radiation becomes necessary, it will inform the public.

Since 2000, Health Canada has evaluated levels of radionuclides in food on an annual basis. All results to date have indicated "extremely low background levels of radionuclides, below the limits of our testing technology," the federal agency said.

Canada imports nearly 3,000 kilograms of dairy products per year from Japan, which represents only about 0.001 per cent of all dairy imports. However, Health Canada says it is not accepting these products into Canada without acceptable documentation verifying their safety.

Meanwhile, the BC Centre for Disease Control said British Columbians should not be concerned about radiation in milk or in any other British Columbian food products.

"The levels of radio-iodine that have been measured in Washington State are extremely low. While such traces do show that we need to monitor B.C.-produced foods for traces of dilute radioactivity coming from Japan, the measurements are far from internationally accepted levels of concern," the agency said.

Earlier this week, Simon Fraser University nuclear scientist Kris Starosta said radiation from the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged in the March 11 earthquake has been detected in B.C. seaweed and rainwater samples.

Starosta said the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is likely responsible for the discovery, but insisted there is no immediate danger to the public.

Following the Chernobyl incident in 1986, levels of iodine-131 were four times higher than what scientists have detected in the rainwater in recent weeks, he said.

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine have also been detected in Ontario and New Brunswick. All are suspected to be from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.

***@****
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canadian+inspection+agency+refuses+test+milk+radiation/4548777/story.html#ixzz1JLV0OEn1
12 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
535822 tn?1443976780
I have put another link on the other thread about the milk .and veg in the UK ..Natural News.com
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
There are many up there as I am sure you have found, the best one maybe the American Nuclear Society web site  www.ans.org  I googled . It may not help you in Canada.If you just put map in much info ...
Helpful - 0
377493 tn?1356502149
Do you by chance have the link for that map?  I would love to have a look at it.  I have to say, I am just completely uncertain what to do here.  I have switched him to a calcium enriched, vitamin d enriched soy milk.  He likes it so that is a good thing.   But I am so worried about everything I am feeding him now.  They keep telling us the amounts are minimal, but what does that mean?  Perhaps no harm to an adult, but what about that little 20lb body that is growing and developing.  I am scared as to what the long term effects are possibly going to be for him.  This is just so scary and while I understand our gov`t doesn`t want to panic anyone, at the same time I tend to deal better with the honest truth.  I want to know what we are dealing with.  We are very close to the west coast.  If you are moving west to northeast from California, you have California, Oregon, Washington State, then B.C. and then Alberta where I am.  Many of our veggies are imported from California in the winter and of course locally grown in the proper season.  I wonder if other parents are worrying as much as I am about this.
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
I just put it in and it is showing me the moving cloud  Cesium 137,  it says The Fukushima forcast shows a large radiation Cloud over the US west Coast on April 14th/April 15th and has covered most of North America and the radioactive materials have deposited on the ground .They are also saying that the fall out is about the same as the 1960's Nuclear open air explosions .. so it may be disbursing ..  
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
My daughter in UK , they have just been warned , has a stock of long life milk , there may be some where you live, also evaporated milk in cans ..don't know if that's okay for small children/babies..I think its best to go and search around the internet , I do know most authorities downplay it like they did with Chenobyl because of panic,. .If a child is older they don't have to drink milk, but veg are grown in the ground and the rain brings the radioactive materials down onto the grass and earth. I am going to check if the plume has moved over California ,check where you are living and find out the ratio ..they show maps of how it is moving they should also tell you the hazards, it may disperse once it has passed over , .The local authorities in each area should tell us about the water supply .I know we have been getting doses of radiation in CA after all the nuclear testing done in the desert here, many think it has contributed to Thyroid problems ..
Helpful - 0
1648674 tn?1308696316
what in Washington no that's where I'm at and my family and i have a 2 year old sister who drink cows milk like 4 times a day oh my gosh. well I'm going to take my sister off the milk and but her on something so much better. they cant say they are testing our products and that we are perfectly safe because if they was not scared they wouldn't be testing our food products makes me kinda wonder.
Helpful - 0
377493 tn?1356502149
Narla, that is what I don't understand.  It just doesn't feel right to me.  I am far from a paranoid person and never put much stock in conspiracies or anything, but I will tell you, this issue has me nervous.  Margy, I have thought about all the other dairy which of course is now leading me done an even more frightening thought.  If it is in rainwater (which of course makes sense) what else is becoming contaminated?  Fruits and vegetables, our meat, etc. etc.  And to make matters worse Canada has this bizarre loophole.  Food products can be produced anywhere, but if it is packaged in Canada, they can label it "Produced in Canada".  So it is very difficult to find out the origins of any product really.  The more this continues, the more frightened I am becoming.  
Helpful - 0
1032715 tn?1315984234
What gets me is if there is no problem then why are they scared of testing?

Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
and other Dairy products ..check out the food chain .
Helpful - 0
535822 tn?1443976780
I think with cows milk the radioactive particles get onto the grass especially after rain ..Its seems very sensible to remove your boy form cows milk, till you know more about the levels in your area .
Helpful - 0
377493 tn?1356502149
It just boggles my mind that they aren't testing.  And scares me to death.  I have taken Ryder off of cows milk for now.  It probably isn't much of a threat where we are...we produce almost all of our own milk locally..lot's of farming and dairy here, plus we are a landlocked province, so again not as big a worry as for some of you, but still.  I am also not serving or eating seafood for now.  Not until I am 100% convinced everything is safe..and that includes testing.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think that one guy had a very very valid point. Run the tests and give the results to the public. Prove it! Seems like a simple thing to do no?
Helpful - 0
You must join this user group in order to participate in this discussion.

You are reading content posted in the Current Events . . . Group

Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.