Comment: Uranium mining and milling will pollute our food, water and land when the wind blows or during floods, uranium and it's by product will escape. The dust will settle on our gardens, wheat fields, tobacco fields and in our waters which the cattle will drink. FDA will start inspecting our foods and milk! So farmers, fight against uranium mining and milling now!
Mar 22, 7:20 PM EDT
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will halt imports of dairy products and produce from the area of Japan where a nuclear reactor is leaking radiation.
The FDA said those foods will be detained at entry and will not be sold to the public. The agency previously said it would just step up screening of those foods.
Other foods imported from Japan, including seafood, still will be sold to the public but screened first for radiation.
Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has been leaking radiation after it was damaged in a devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month. The sea near the nuclear plant has also shown elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium, prompting the government to test seafood.
Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all U.S. imports, and the FDA said it expects no risk to the U.S. food supply from radiation. Officials and health experts say the doses are low and not a threat to human health unless the tainted products are consumed in abnormally excessive quantities.
Still, the World Health Organization said this week that Japan should act quickly to ensure that no contaminated foods are sold. The most common imports from Japan to the United States are seafood, snack foods, and processed fruits and vegetables.
David Acheson, a former FDA associate commissioner of foods, acknowledged concerns about the safety of imported foods and the lack of agency resources. But he said the agency prioritizes risky situations like the one in Japan.
"Whenever there is a threat, then resources appear," he said.
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