Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/22
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Christie Chen
Taipei, Nov. 22 (CNA) Members of the Green Consumers’ Foundation, a Taiwanese environmental
(CNA file photo)
group, visited Japan’s Chiba Prefecture on Tuesday to test radiation levels in the soil, as the debate over whether to lift the ban on food imports from radiation-affected areas of the country has become a hot-button issue in Taiwan.
The tests conducted by the group, broadcast in a series of live Facebook broadcasts, were carried out in a rice paddy in Imba-numa. About 1 kilogram of soil was collected from the paddy field and tested for radiation.
In the broadcasts, Jay Fang (方儉), chairman of the foundation, said all three of the tests showed that the soil contained the radioactive element Caesium-137, which has a half-life of about 30 years.
One of the tests showed the soil sample containing up to 19.256 becquerel per kilogram (bq/kg) of Caesium-137, with a margin of error of plus or minus 8-10 percentage points, Fang said. [FULL STORY]