Groups Work to Block Fast Track TPP, Radiation in Food from Japan

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The Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) is among dozens of groups urgently calling on Senator Ron Wyden (OR) to exercise his authority as Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and immediately block Fast Track of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  Among many other things, FFAN is concerned that the sweeping, secretive TPP would allow more radioactive food and beverage from Japan to enter the U.S.in the ongoing wake of Fukushima Daiichi’s triple nuclear meltdowns.

The TPP is the only classified trade agreement in history, which is why the general public is largely unaware of it’s sweeping implications. Fast Track is a vehicle to rush TPP approval without standard congressional process.  If Fast Track is defeated, a 2/3 Senate approval would be highly unlikely.  A defeat of Fast Track means a defeat of the TPP, however TPP supporters plan to push Fast Track through as early as the week of April 13th.

TPP would open up U.S. markets to even more potentially contaminated imports from Japan.  FFAN has launched a new petition to Senator Wyden and President Obama demanding that they block fast track and radioactive food from Japan. Meanwhile, House Democrats led by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are have expressed concern about questionable seafood imports and the FDA’s inability to adequately maintain an already underfunded, overlogged system.  TPP would only exacerbate the crisis.

As the American Medical Association calls for more robust testing of Pacific seafood, FDA continues to state publically their belief that no further action is needed to test imports from Japan at responsible levels, and even officially advising pregnant women to eat more Pacific seafood. The U.S. currently allows 12 times or more man-made radiation in food than does Japan. Food already unfit for consumption there can be legally exported to the U.S.

Taiwan is among many countries with more stringent regulations than the U.S. and in fact has banned food from Fukushima and other prefectures.  It was recently reported that food inspectors in Taiwan intercepted nearly 300 intentionally mislabeled food items from northern Japan, many of which originated in Fukushima and surrounding prefectures. Hong Kong recently returned a large shipment of green tea from Japan that was found to exceed their regulations for radiation.

Rather than fast tracking, we need to slow down and safeguard our food supply to the best of our ability. There is no end in sight for radioactive leaks coming from this catastrophe, as admitted by Naohiro Masuda, president of the Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning Company, who also recently stated in a televised interview that the technology required to control and contain the radiation still needs to be invented.

Sign the petition ~ https://www.change.org/p/ron-wyden-barack-obama-urgent-block-fast-track-of-trans-pacific-partnership-now-say-no-to-radioactive-food-from-japan

Radiation Found in Green Tea in Hong Kong: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/17/radiation-in-green-tea/

House Dems Fears TPP Will Flood US with Unsafe Seafood:
http://www.law360.com/articles/641602/house-dem-fears-tpp-will-flood-us-with-unsafe-seafood

FFAN 4/08/15 press release: https://www.prbuzz.com/business-entrepreneur/304494-outraged-food-safety-advocates-point-to-mislabeled-food-from-fukushima-demand-senator-wyden-block-fast-track-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp.html#.VSVLMWKXWgo.twitter

More information at www.FFAN.us

 

Kimberly Roberson is a certified Nutrition Educator and Co Producer of the Radiation Awareness and Protection Talk (RAPT) audio program. She may be reached at www.NewHealthDesign.com.

Kimberly Roberson
Kimberly Roberson is a certified Diet Counselor and Nutrition Educator and has served on the board of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. She has worked at Sane/Freeze, CALPIRG and Greenpeace USA, and lobbied for environmental and natural health issues on the state and federal level, and at the Food and Drug Administration. Kimberly is the founder and Executive Director of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network. She is the author of "Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout...A Mother's Response", available in print and ebook at http://amzn.to/12Nu4jv and may be reached at www.NewHealthDesign.com