Event Detail

Following the nuclear accident in Fukushima, there has been great

concern throughout Japan on food safety. The issue of food safety is

highly charged, and there are many conflicting sources of information,

not all of which has been correct. As consumers, we have a right to

know. Is food in Japan really safe?



The ACCJ will present two independent nuclear experts, Dr. Wade Allison

of Oxford University (Author of "Radiation and Reason") and Dr. Akira

Tokuhiro of the University of Idaho (Professor of Nuclear and Mechanical

Engineering).



Key questions they will address include:

- What are the chances of the food chain being contaminated?

- How much food is actually tested before it reaches the distribution

chain?

- How reliable are the tests and how are they conducted?

- How much radiation (if consumed) is tolerated by the human body?

- Why are only Iodine 131 and Cesium 134/137 cited in most testing

results?

- Does the human body recover from a radiation dose? How effectively and

how quickly?

- Are internal doses (like Iodine and Cesium) more or less harmful than

external doses (like X-rays and gamma rays)?



Mr. Noriyuki Shikata, Director of Global Communications, in the Prime

Minister's Office, will comment on the presentations, to be followed by

a Q&A and a networking event with members from the ACCJ and other

foreign chambers of commerce.