5.) Importing Food from Japan

The United States has already banned imports from Japan on certain vegetables and milk products due to the location of where they were grown to the impact of the nuclear emergency and tsunami.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned imports of spinach and kakina from Fukushima, Iharaki, Tochiai, and Guma; milk from Fukushima.  Along with those foods, all milk, milk products, fruits, and vegetables produced or shipped from Japan are searched when entered into the United States.  The foods are examined for radionuclide contamination.  The FDA issued an “Important Alert” on Japanese food and it will all be screened at American boarders and ports before it is allowed to be sold in the U.S.  Radiation of all Japanese foods will be manditory in order to be accepted in the country.  There is a U.S. trade law already in place that states that all imported articles must be marked with the country of origin. 

Not only is Japan our fourth most dominant trading partner, but they are also the fourth trading partner for agricultural exports as well.  The main reason the FDA chose spinach, milk, and vegetables are that those grown around the nuclear power plants in Japan have already been found to contain traces of a radioactive isotopes known as iodine131 and cesium137.  Radioactive iodine attacks the human thyroid and could possibly cause a thyroid epidemic. With these regulations set in place, the food we import from Japan will be radioactive isotope free, and fine for us all to eat.  Without the regulations of the FDA, radiation poisoning would be traveling worldwide from Japan and we would all consume it without knowing anything was wrong.

www.foodmatters.com/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703362904576218380234550522.html

Nanto, Dick K., William H. Cooper, Renee Johnson, and Michael J. Donnelly. "Japan's 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami                                                        Economic Effects and Implications for the United States." SIRS Researcher. Web.