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The government has decided to have all food items, imported from countries neighbouring Japan, screened by the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority before being released from the Colombo Airport and Harbour. The Health Ministry said that this precautionary measure had been recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency In the wake of Fukushima Nuclear Plant explosion in Japan. The International Atomic Energy Agency has requested all countries to conduct accurate food analysis prior to releasing them from respective Ports and Airports as there could be threats of nuclear radiation which would be injurious to the consumers.

All countries importing food items from countries neighbouring Japan have been adviced to obtain an assurance certificate from their respective Atomic Energy Institutes. Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said that the Health Ministry’s food and drug inspectors had been assigned to obtain samples of various food items imported from countries neighbouring Japan and send them to the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority for approval. Minister Sirisena said that people who contract nuclear radiation would not pass it to others as it was non-contagious. But females who were vulnerable to radiation could deliver deformed babies. It could also cause thyroid cancer in both sexes. The government had strengthened its food monitoring system and would comply with the International Atomic Energy Authority’s guidelines to maintain a safe health service, he said.

Atomic Energy Authority Chairman Prof. A. Abeywickrema said that the Authority was well-equipped with highly sophisticated machinery to conduct analysis to find out whether food items contained nuclear radiation or not. Since 1968 the Authority had been analyzing imported food items, especially powdered milk food. No food item could be released to the market without the assurance certificate issued by the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority.

@ The Island By Don Asoka Wijewardena