Radioactive’ shrimp crisis: Indonesia grapples with contaminated industrial zone
A large industrial zone on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, is grappling with radioactive contamination after a government taskforce found traces of the hazardous isotope Caesium-137 at 22 production facilities at the site, which includes businesses that export frozen seafood.
The discovery, which has prompted emergency decontamination and relocation of residents, follows a contamination scare in the US that was traced back to the Jakarta facilities.
The multinational retailer Walmart is among the businesses that have recalled products from its shelves after the discovery.
Indonesian authorities launched an investigation after the US Food and Drug Administration detected Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope, in a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp exported by Indonesian company PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS).
The FDA issued an advisory telling distributors and retailers to dispose of the product and not sell it, although the detected level was far below the authority’s intervention threshold. It added that the amount of Caesium-137 it had detected would not pose an acute hazard to consumers.
The FDA said: “The primary health effect of concern following longer term, repeated low dose exposure (eg through consumption of contaminated food or water over time) is an elevated risk of cancer, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells of the body.”
Radiation scans revealed at least 22 plants in the industrial zone were contaminated. The Indonesian taskforce did not name the 21 other production facilities, but said they would immediately undergo decontamination procedures conducted by Indonesia’s nuclear agency.
The environment minister, Hanif Faisol, said people living in highly contaminated areas would be relocated until the site was decontaminated, adding that the safety of the residents was the “top priority”.
Health authorities also conducted checks on local workers and residents living near the industrial estate, identifying nine people who tested positive for exposure to Caesium-137. They were referred to a hospital before being cleared to return home.
The contaminated sites will immediately undergo decontamination procedures by Indonesia’s nuclear agency. Authorities have also designated the site of a scrap metal factory, PT Peter Metal Technology, as an isolation facility for contaminated goods.
Indonesia, which operates no nuclear power plants or weapons programme, believes that Caesium-137 may have entered the country from overseas.
A spokesperson for the taskforce, Bara Hasibuan, told reporters on Wednesday that scrap metal imports were the likely source of contamination and confirmed the government would immediately impose restrictions on scrap metal imports. He said vehicles were also being inspected for potential contamination as they moved through the area.
Caesium 137 is a hazardous radioactive isotope that usually enters the environment as a result of nuclear testing or accidents, such as Fukushima or Chornobyl. Small amounts are present in soil, food and air.
The level detected in the frozen shrimp was far lower than FDA intervention levels, but the authority said long-term exposure to even low doses of caesium was linked to an elevated risk of cancer.
The recalled shrimp was sold at Walmart stores across at least a dozen US states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
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