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High radiation levels in some Japan milk

Members of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force supply with water for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country, at the city office of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, Japan, on March 17, 2011. UPI/Keizo Mori
Members of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force supply with water for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country, at the city office of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, Japan, on March 17, 2011. UPI/Keizo Mori | License Photo

TOKYO, March 19 (UPI) -- Radioactive iodine levels above Japan's allowable limit have been found in milk in a town 27 miles from the Fukushima nuclear plant, officials said Saturday.

Levels in tap water in Kawamata were below the limit, Kyodo News reported. But the level in milk raised questions about the safety of food and liquids in the area.

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The government has also announced traces of radioactive iodine were found in Tokyo's drinking water, the Japanese government said Saturday.

The radioactive substance, said to be below levels dangerous to human health, was detected in Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata, Chiba and Saitama prefectures besides Tokyo, and cesium was found in Tochigi and Gunma, Kyodo News reported.

Tochigi, Gunma and Niigata border Fukushima Prefecture, site of the nuclear power plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

In the town of Maebashi, 2.5 becquerels of iodine and 0.38 becquerel of cesium were seen Friday per kilogram of water, local authorities said. It was the first detection of the substances in the 20 years tap water has been tested.

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