TOKYO, March 23 (UPI) -- As Japan took steps to check radiation contamination of food, experts said it is difficult to track radioactive materials once they escape.
Concerns of contamination of food from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant rose Wednesday after the Japanese health ministry asked residents of the area temporarily to stop consuming 11 contaminated vegetables.
In the United States, imports of milk, milk products and fresh vegetables from areas near the nuclear plant have been stopped.
Experts told The New York Times once radioactive materials escape, it would be difficult to predict where and how they might travel through complicated food chains and biochemical pathways. Their spread would depend on which specific element is released and what crops and animals are in an exposed area.
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The report said the principal elements that have escaped from the Fukushima plant are iodine 131 and cesium 137. Cesium is dangerous as it has long life and can travel through the food chain.
"There is an extremely complex interaction between the type of radionuclide and the weather and the type of vegetation," Professor Emeritus F. Ward Whicker at Colorado State University told The Times.
Japanese officials also have said some of the water used to cool reactor systems had escaped into the ocean, raising the risk of seafood contamination.
Rutgers University expert Paul Falkowski said in a worst case scenario with worsening radiation leaks, a large Pacific Ocean current moving up the coast of Japan could bring radiation to Alaska fisheries.
"I would definitely be monitoring fish populations in the area, since there may be certain items that should be avoided," said Professor Nicholas Fisher at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
