Beltsville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/03/2015 -- The Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) is calling on US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to exercise his authority as chair of the Senate Finance Committee to immediately block Fast Track of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Among other concerns, the TPP would allow even more radioactive foods and beverages from Japan to enter the U.S. contaminated by the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi's triple nuclear meltdowns in Japan. Without Wyden's Fast Track authorization, the TPP is unlikely to gain the required two-thirds senate approval for this anti-democratic, pro-corporate treaty.

FFAN member groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health, and Ecological Options Network filed a legal document, the Citizen Petition, to the Food and Drug Administration on March 12, 2013 that calls for a significant reduction in the levels of radioactivity permitted in the US food supply.

Currently the US allows, at minimum, 12 times the radioactivity in food than does Japan. Furthermore, the FDA guidance is a non-binding recommendation, which is like having no genuine regulation at all.

The FDA has chosen not to act on the Citizen Petition despite ever-increasing amounts of radioactivity leaking daily into the Pacific Ocean from the three nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, Japan. Ocean currents carry radioactive particles from Japan to the West Coast of the U.S. that then can contaminate its seafood.

Food deemed unfit for consumption in Japan is already being legally exported to U.S. residents including extremely vulnerable pregnant women and children. The TPP would open up US markets to even more potentially contaminated imports from Japan.

"Senator Wyden must understand that ingesting radioactivity leads to multiple diseases as well as cancer and the FDA is not protecting US residents with their current policy" notes Kimberly Roberson, Director of FFAN. Mary Beth Brangan, Co-Director of the Ecological Options Network states "What is really needed is for Senator Wyden and others to exert pressure on the FDA to increase radiation monitoring and make those findings available to the public. The TPP would essentially block any possibility of that happening."

The FDA continues to state publically that they believe no further action is needed to test seafood and imports from Japan at responsible levels, and has even officially advised pregnant women to eat more Pacific seafood.

"Clearly the FDA is ignoring the American Medical Association (AMA) recommendation to test Pacific seafood in a robust manner. Since Fukushima will continue to leak man-made radioactivity into the Pacific, testing will have to continue for decades because contamination in sea life can change over time as it moves through the environment. Already lack of proper testing prevents informed consumer choice and approval of the TPP would shove consumers further into the dark." said Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Specialist at Beyond Nuclear.

The TPP would also eliminate country of origin labeling on products so consumers wanting to avoid radioactivity in food would never know if it's from Fukushima. Intentional mislabeling of food from Fukushima has recently been discovered in imports to Taiwan.

Senator Wyden must act in behalf of the residents of the United States and block Fast Track.

Contact: Cindy Folkers, Beyond Nuclear - 240-354-4314
Kimberly Roberson, FFAN – 415-713-7271
Mary Beth Brangan , EON - 415-868-1900

Website: www.FFAN.us
twitter @ffan4u