Radiation threat from Japanese imports.

[spicy1]

Friends in New York tell us the authorities are very,very concerned about potential harmfull radiation levels from goods imported from Japan as a result of the nuclear power plant explosions after the sunami.

Car manufacturers in Japan have been trying to "offload" certain vehicles which they had in stock onto unsuspecting dealers and customers which contain dangerously high levels of radiation.

We were in thr process of buying a new Japanese car from a London dealer but pulled out when the salesman couldn't reassure us that the cars are being checked for harmfull radiation levels on entry to the UK.

Are these cryptic replies....I,m new here????

Radiation is all around us, vegetables perhaps but cars? grow up, what make was it anyway Honda and the like do not go building cars in Nippon and shipping them over, they make them here it's cheaper.

Plus Fukishima (which I have no doubt spelled wrong) is only one tiny little part of the country which is a crop producing area, not cars.

Tinfoil hats will do you no good, it just ensures the meat will cook evenly.

Do you think.... perhaps.... spicy1 that in an attempt to shore up their ailing motor industry, this story is a silly rumour put about to discourage Americans from buying japanese cars? A bit of negative propaganda?

BTW... how exactly did your London salesman react when you asked him to fetch a Geiger counter?

does this help....

digitaljournal.com/article/313469

Ryoka,

Tens of thousands of new Japanese cars are imported annually in the UK.

ALL the main manufactures,Honda,Nissan,Toyota etc... had to suspend manufacturing due to the fact their component suppliers were based in and around the damaged reactor plant.

High levels of radiation have been reported in cars sold 6 months after the explosion and the authorities have instigated a destruction programme.

Before you tell someone to grow up i suggest you sober up and do a bit of research.

The "news" article is about previously owned cars - why are you extrapolating to new cars? The elevated rates in the used cars could be due to contamination if they were in a particular area, which is why the dose-rate can be lowered with cleaning as reported in that article. This would not apply to new cars - even if they had been kept outside any external contamination would be readily washed off or literally fall off & if they are not powered in anyway then contamination could not enter via ventilation.

Most imported goods are scanned for radiation when coming in/out port/airports using large scale drive-through scanners but this is quite a gross scan (with more detailed checks being carried out randomly or on particular items if there is a high risk suspected) & would not necessarily detect those type of levels, although one would expect better clearance policies to be in place for anything coming out of affected Japanese areas - but people will always find a way to get past them if they have the will.

Having looked at recent news articles on Fukishima the wider situation is all quite worrying. This is far from a problem and a tragedy that is now over and contained I fear.

Idlevice,

Used or new,radiation is radiation and to leave things to chance that a car will be randomly checked is one hell of a risk.

Russian authorities (and we know how lax they can be with H+S) have just rejected a ship load of Japanese cars due to radiation levels 6 times greater than reccommended safety levels.

And the Aussies...what are the UK govt doing?

?Any risk of radiation is too big a risk to take. Workers and consumers come into direct contact with these cars ? the Government watchdog must ensure there is no health and safety risk.?

Mr Smith said the Australian public had a right to know if there was a radiation threat.

?We?re pleased ARPANSA have recognised that this is an important health and safety issue, and will be screening the next batch of cars being imported from Japan,? he said.

The MUA is currently working towards radiation screening for all Japanese cargo entering Australia.

In April and May alone, more than 44,600 vehicles that were produced in Japan were registered in Australia.

Companies like Honda build the cars in the territory they are sold in, using parts predominantly from the region, in the UK Honda was only exporting about 10% of the parts from Japan.

Radiation disperses over time, the chances of you actually being in contact with the engine parts from Japan long enough for it to cause trouble are remote, it's all scare stories.

if everyone was so paranoid about it, no one would live in Cornwall due to the radon or go anywhere via airport.

They've been putting fuel rods into the sea allegedly, there's a crane at the stricken site currently.

'Radiation disperses over time' hmm. Read some of the more reputable articles on the current situation.

Interesting that the Aussies are screening.

Have they actually detected any contamination? If so, on what?

Something curious I found out the other day was that food can't be screened in bulk - it has to be liquidised and then tested, or something like that. Generally only part of a batch will be tested. I assumed you could wave a geiger counter around over a huge crate of food but was told it doesn't work like that for organic matter.

In other words it isn't possible to actively, practically test all food items (if deemed appropriate) if I've understood correctly?

Where you alive when Chernobyl blow up and the radioactive cloud floated across Europe leading to the slaughter of many sheep and cows, because they where out grazing at the time?

The massive rush on things like cheese to grab the clean stuff before the contaminated stuff ended up in the shops?.

Yes, but don't remember any real concerns about contaminated food in UK. Probably too young.

From USA Today "At least give Nissan credit for trying to get ahead of the urban myth "

Well there was, it rained down on fields, there was a rush on iodine tablets, cheese, meat and anything else that could be put in a freezer, a lot of milk had to chucked away as no one bought it, and the fallout from that was far higher then this.

Some sources say this will ultimately be much worse as it's still an ongoing, unsolved problem. Contaminated sea water and the alleged continued dumping of radioactive waste into the sea concerns me. Not to say Chernobyl wasn't extremely serious though.

Everyones been dumping radiation into the see for 50+ years among other things, the sea is all ready contaminated with toxins, thats why you are not spost to eat more then 3 potions of fish a week.

Can you imagine Waitrose or Tesco labelling their fish "more than 3 portions per week could give you cancer"

"Caution this product may contains traces of plastic particles"

whilst I'm not going to be boycotting Japanese products (because life is about balancing risks), the amount of caesium 137 particles that was released is of great concern, particularly to those who live there. It has a half life of 30 years. Its not something that will become safer quickly.