PETERSBURG, AK Environmental officials with state and federal agencies say there’s no risk of radiation exposure from Alaskan seafood, and do not expect Alaska’s seafood catch to be impacted by radiation releases from damaged nuclear reactors in northern Japan, following this month’s devastating earthquakes off the Japanese coastline.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says at this time theoretical models do not indicate that significant amounts of radiation will reach the U.S. coast or affect U.S. fishing waters. The FDA says the great quantity of water in the Pacific Ocean rapidly and effectively dilutes radioactive material, so fish and seafood are likely to be unaffected.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation randomly screens samples of Alaska’s seafood catch for contaminants like heavy metals, PCBs and pesticides, but is not testing for radiation. Joe Viechnicki spoke with Kristin Ryan, director of the DEC’s division of environmental health about testing of Alaska’s seafood catch.
