Title:
For Japan Farmers, Radiation Fears Mean Economic
Pain
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Japan's nuclear crisis may mean greater demand for
imported food and less competition from Japanese
products on world markets. But it also means that
Japanese farmers and others who make and sell food
have to worry about their future. Yasumichi Tanaka
sells fish at one of Japan's busiest fish markets.
But now there are fewer fish to sell. He says: "Fish
supplies from the radiation-contaminated regions
have been totally halted."The radiation is from the
Fukushima nuclear power station that was damaged by
the March eleventh earthquake and tsunami. China
joined a number of other countries that have banned
imports of food from the affected areas. Chinese
media said the banned items include milk products,
fruit, vegetables and seafood. Singapore also has a
ban in place. Restaurant manager Connie Hon says
some people are worried about eating Japanese food.
The United States has also banned foods from
radiation-affected areas, and so has the Japanese
government itself. Radioactive particles travel in
the wind and get absorbed into soil with the help of
rain and snow. Then plant roots take up the material
and the plants become contaminated. Animals eat the
plants and their products become contaminated. Some
kinds of radiation stay in the environment longer
than others. Medical physicist Jerrold Bushberg is a
radiation expert at the University of California,
Davis. Professor Bushberg says removing the topsoil
might make the land safe for use. But it depends on
the depth of the radioactive material. And for now,
he says, it is too early to take any measures.
Experts say the ocean will help dilute radiation in
seawater. But the tsunami also destroyed seafood,
sank fishing boats and leveled processing
plants.Charles Ebinger studies the politics of
energy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Mr. Ebinger says the danger to adults from
radiation-contaminated food is overstated. Still,
the affected areas of northeastern Japan are deeply
dependent on agriculture and fish, he says. So their
economy could suffer the most. For VOA Special
English, I'm Alex Villarreal. You can download free
transcripts and MP3s of all of our reports and other
Special English programs at voaspecialenglish.com.
You can also find us on Facebook at VOA Learning
English.
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
