Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Controversy over the radioactive test on tea

I do not want to talk about politics in this blog. However, since the radioactive-contaminated tea is a disturbing issue against our safety, then I’ll be writing about a recent the news I’ve just seen.



Konnichiwa, it’s meヽ(^。^)ノ The radiation test on tea that I have introduced on the previous entry (Restriction of tea leaves) was a test on raw leaves before processing, which is like raw vegetable. This time, the government decided to test on aracha (dried leaves) and restrict it. The areas where those tea were found are the entire Ibaraki prefecture and some parts of Kanagawa, Chiba and Tochigi prefectures. Sizuoka and Kanagawa prefectures said that they have already done the tests on fresh leaves. These two prefectures are not going to follow the government’s request and are not going to test on aracha. Basically, a controversy has arose over the adequacy of the regulation.



Negative Opinion about the Regulation:

The criteria of the regulation are not reasonable. By drying, the weight of aracha is reduced to 1/5th of the actual weight of fresh leaves. That means the substances are condensed five times, including the radioactive substances. Thus, to apply the same regulation for raw vegetables (500becquerel per 1kg) to aracha is not appropriate and it is not based on scientific evidences. And also, in brewed tea the substance extracted is only 1/50th - 1/60th of aracha, so it’s not harmful. Therefore, the regulation on aracha is not practical.


Tomorrow, I’ll write about the other opinions in favor of the government. Jah!



Edit on Oct 31 2011

Other entries about the radiation and tea






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