Japan farmers protest radiation leak
Source: Agencies |
April 27, 2011, Wednesday
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ANGRY farmers brought two cows to Tokyo, shouting and punching the air yesterday in a protest to demand compensation for products contaminated by radiation spewing from Japan's crippled nuclear plant.
The 200 farmers, mostly from northeastern Japan, wore green bandanas, held aloft cabbages they said they couldn't sell and carried signs saying "Stop nuclear energy" outside the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the plant damaged in the March 11 tsunami.
"My patience has run out. The nuclear crisis is totally destroying our farming business," said 72-year-old Katsuo Okazaki, who grows peaches and apples.
Radiation leaking from Fukushima Dai-ichi plant - about 220 kilometers north of Tokyo - has been found in milk, water and vegetables such as spinach from around the plant. Authorities have banned the sale of raw milk from some towns near the plant, as well as spinach, cabbage, broccoli and several other leafy vegetables from throughout Fukushima prefecture, though most restrictions in nearby prefectures have been lifted.
But even once restrictions are removed and produce is deemed safe, farmers throughout the northeast fear consumers will shun their products.
The utility says it will take six to nine months to bring the plant into cold shutdown, a crucial step for allowing the roughly 80,000 people evacuated from a 20-kilometer area around the plant to return home.
Farmers among the evacuees also are concerned about the estimated 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens they had to leave behind to fend for themselves. Some have died already, and many are weak and dying.
"I'm here in protest, and to get an apology," said Masaki Yoshizawa, who had 300 head of high-grade "wagyu" cattle on a ranch about 14km from the plant.
TEPCO was to start depositing initial compensation payments of 1 million yen (US$12,000) per household yesterday into bank accounts of people forced to evacuate due to leaking radiation, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said.
Okazaki, the fruit farmer, isn't eligible because his farm is 60km from the plant, but he still wants compensation, fearing a lengthy slump in demand for farm products from his region. He says vegetable growers already have lost a great deal of money. "I am constantly worried about this, and feel like my strength is being sapped away," he said.
Meanwhile, in another setback at the nuclear plant, workers detected water leaking from the containment vessel of Unit 1, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said a pair of robots sent in to investigate found no major leak, but Nishiyama said further investigation was needed.
The 200 farmers, mostly from northeastern Japan, wore green bandanas, held aloft cabbages they said they couldn't sell and carried signs saying "Stop nuclear energy" outside the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the plant damaged in the March 11 tsunami.
"My patience has run out. The nuclear crisis is totally destroying our farming business," said 72-year-old Katsuo Okazaki, who grows peaches and apples.
Radiation leaking from Fukushima Dai-ichi plant - about 220 kilometers north of Tokyo - has been found in milk, water and vegetables such as spinach from around the plant. Authorities have banned the sale of raw milk from some towns near the plant, as well as spinach, cabbage, broccoli and several other leafy vegetables from throughout Fukushima prefecture, though most restrictions in nearby prefectures have been lifted.
But even once restrictions are removed and produce is deemed safe, farmers throughout the northeast fear consumers will shun their products.
The utility says it will take six to nine months to bring the plant into cold shutdown, a crucial step for allowing the roughly 80,000 people evacuated from a 20-kilometer area around the plant to return home.
Farmers among the evacuees also are concerned about the estimated 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens they had to leave behind to fend for themselves. Some have died already, and many are weak and dying.
"I'm here in protest, and to get an apology," said Masaki Yoshizawa, who had 300 head of high-grade "wagyu" cattle on a ranch about 14km from the plant.
TEPCO was to start depositing initial compensation payments of 1 million yen (US$12,000) per household yesterday into bank accounts of people forced to evacuate due to leaking radiation, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said.
Okazaki, the fruit farmer, isn't eligible because his farm is 60km from the plant, but he still wants compensation, fearing a lengthy slump in demand for farm products from his region. He says vegetable growers already have lost a great deal of money. "I am constantly worried about this, and feel like my strength is being sapped away," he said.
Meanwhile, in another setback at the nuclear plant, workers detected water leaking from the containment vessel of Unit 1, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said a pair of robots sent in to investigate found no major leak, but Nishiyama said further investigation was needed.
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