Radioactivity in foodstuffs: regulatory steps

PTI FEATURE
VOL NO XXIII(22)-2007 June 2, 2007

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
PF-86/2007


RADIOACTIVITY IN FOODSTUFFS: REGULATORY STEPS
By Dr K.S.Parthasarathy

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station occurred on April 26, 1986. Shortly thereafter, radioactive fallout has shown up in foodstuffs in various countries. Public got concerned about the health impact of these contaminated food items. Food restrictions in European countries fuelled the fears.

Many felt that contaminated food items may be sold or gifted to third world countries. As a proactive measure, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the competent authority to enforce radiation protection in India, enforced regulatory steps to protect the public from undue radiation exposures.

In order to evolve a consensus opinion of a wide cross section of specialists on radiation protection policies, AERB organised in 1987 a national meeting of senior specialists from the Ministries of Agriculture, Food and Civil Supplies, Health and Family Welfare, Commerce, Environment and Forests, Bureau of Indian Standards, Marine Products Export Development Authority, Export Inspection Council, Tea Board, Indian Dairy Corporation, National Institute of Nutrition, Consumer Guidance Society of India, Research Institutes dealing with Food Technology, Fisheries and Toxicology and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

Radioactive releases from nuclear facilities may contaminate foodstuffs AERB allows nuclear power plants and other facilities to release certain amount of radionuclides. Robust, administrative and technical machinery are in place to monitor and measure the releases to ensure that they do not cause radiation exposures above the limits prescribed by the Board. Radioactive materials may get released if reactor accidents occur. This is what happened in Chernobyl.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has stipulated dose limits for members of the public. In the absence of other precedents to go by, the specialists group in India decided that the contribution from man made radionuclides in food items is only a small fraction of this dose limit. This led to overly conservative values of concentrations.

Based on the recommendations of the specialists, AERB prescribed the permissible levels of Iodine 131, Strontium-90 and Caesium-137 in food items

AERB recognized three BARC laboratories at Kolkata, Kalpakkam and Trombay for measuring and certifying radioactivity in the food samples sent to them. The Directorate General of Health Services instructed their offices located at ports to send samples of imported food for testing. This covered the bulk imports of food items.
BARC laboratories tested thousands of samples over the past several years. On rare occasions, when they found samples containing levels above those prescribed by AERB they issued suitable instructions.

A development, which received wide media coverage, pertained to the safety of 200 Metric Ton of Irish butter imported into India. Three office bearers of the Maharashtra State Government Employees' Federation approached the High Court of Bombay for an appropriate order restraining the respondents (Union of India, the Indian Dairy Corporation, The Dairy Development Commissioner, The General Manager, Greater Bombay Milk Scheme, Bombay, Maharashtra State and the Bombay Municipal Corporation.) from importing any milk or milk products and in particular butter from Ireland.

Originally, the petitioners limited their prayer to the extent of requiring the respondents not to use, distribute or sell for human consumption the butter imported from the European Economic Community Countries in a ship called Black Falcon. However, during the course of the hearing, the petitioners revealed that butter has already arrived in Bombay in some other ships also. The petitioners argued that the relief required was to prevent the respondents from utilizing the butter, which has arrived in any other way.

The petitioners contended that any food article imported from countries in Europe and especially from Ireland after the Chernobyl disaster contains or in all probability likely to contain radioactivity and therefore, its consumption is harmful from the long-term point of view to the population of India.

At one stage, the High Court wanted to know on what basis AERB determined the permissible limit of radioactivity and in particular, whether this permissible limit has been determined based on consumption by human beings of any natural food in which radioactivity was present or was it based on external irradiation. The Court also wanted to know whether natural foods contain radioactivity under normal circumstances The High Court relied upon a letter from Secretary AERB, which answered these questions.

A Division bench of the High Court rejected the petition. In another writ petition (4858 of 1987) the petitioners produced greater quantity of material highlighting the problem. The Court rejected this petition as well.

The petitioners then filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court of India.
After hearing the counsels for the petitioners and respondents, the Supreme Court thought it desirable to appoint a committee of three experts namely Professor M G K Menon, D. P K Iyengar and Mr G V K Rao to give its opinion on the following question: “Whether milk and dairy products and other food products containing man-made radio-nuclides within permissible levels by the AERB on 27th August 1987 are safe and/or harmless for human consumption”.

After perusing the opinion of the committee of experts, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition.

The Court noted the letters sent in reply to the petitioners by some internationally known scientists including Nobel Laureates tending to show that it is desirable to avoid food stuffs containing low level radioactivity, which, according to them, might in the long run prove to be hazardous.

“What is remarkable about these letters is that they are in general terms and only represent a particular school of thought. Surely the Committee of experts comprising of two eminent scientists and an equally well-known Agro-economist was well aware of this point of view”, the Court observed.

In February 2003, AERB standardized the procedures and published the requirements for accrediting more laboratories to measure radioactivity in various commodities.

The facilities to measure radioactivity in food and other commodities exist in many institutions in India If the need arises, AERB can accredit them after appropriate review. - PTI FEATURE

[Dr.K.S.Parthasarathy is former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board]