TOKYO TAP WATER TESTS 2.5 TIMES ABOVE RADIOACTIVE LIMITS FOR INFANTS

March 23rd, 2011

Tap water in Tokyo tested two times above the limits for radioactive iodine considered safe for infants, officials said Wednesday amid burgeoning concerns about food safety in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant.

Levels of radioactive iodine in tap water at a water treatment centre in downtown Tokyo that supplies much of the city’s tap water contained 210 becquerels per litre of iodine-131, officials from the Tokyo Water Bureau said at a news conference.

That amount is more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per litre for infants, the most vulnerable segment of the population. Babies in Tokyo should not be fed tap water although the level is not an immediate health risk for adults, officials said.