MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican government will destroy 41 tons of imported powdered milk reportedly contaminated with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, environmentalists and officials said Friday.
Ernesto Costemalle, director of the state-owned National Public Subsistence Company, or CONASUPO, told reporters 41 tons of powdered milk, which he said was imported from Ireland, will be destroyed because of high levels of radioactive contamination.
'Forty-one tons of the 7,000 tons of powdered milk from Ireland exceeded internationally recognized toxic limits and thus will be destroyed,' Costemalle said.
There is no Irish Embassy in Mexico and the orgin of the milk, stored in warehouses in the port of Veracruz, 190 miles east of Mexico City, could not be verified.
The British Embassy in Mexico City denied an earlier report the milk came from Northern Ireland.
'The powdered milk did not come from Northern Ireland nor from any part of Great Britain,' said a British Embassy spokesman, who asked not to be identified. He said the embassy would issue an official declaration 'to clarify this situation.'
The milk was purchased by a subsidiary of CONASUPO in March and was sent to Veracruz in July, where it has remained, a CONASUPO official said.
The official, who declined to be identified, said in an interview the milk cost about $40 million at the exchange rate effective in March, plus transportation costs.
Both environmentalists and government officials said the milk was contaminated with radioactive fallout from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located northwest of Kiev in the Soviet Union, though they offered no proof.
'The milk is contaminated with cesium 137 and strontium 90, which cause a syndrome that destroys cell membranes,' said Omero Aridjis, president of the Group of 100, an environmental group.
Aridjis said there is 'a certain amount of panic among the Mexican people because they know that on Dec. 26, the Health Ministry authorized the sale of the milk despite the fact the World Health Organization had detected high levels of radiation in the product.'
He said several tons of the milk had been pilfered by employees at the warehouse in Veracruz, but could not confirm whether the stolen milk was contaminated.
'The authorities say they will demand that the costs of buying and transporting the milk be reimbursed, but they have said nothing about compensating those people who have consumed this milk,' the ecologist said.
In addition to its origin, there were conflicting reports on the fate of the tainted milk. Noe Alcala Flores, a CONASUPO employee in Veracruz, said the milk will be returned to Ireland.
'Mexico will present a formal protest against Ireland for the sale of milk contaminated by radiation, and the 74,000 sacks of powdered milk will be returned to their place of origin within the next 15days,' he said.
