E.E.C. to check all food imports for radiation

Press, 31 May 1986, Page 10

E.E.C. to check all food imports for radiation

NZPA-Reuter Brussels European Economic Community member States will introduce radiation checks for all fresh food imports to the community since the Chernobyl nuclear accident after senior diplomats agreed on levels yesterday.

The accord, reached after Greece withdrew objections, ended days of uncertainty over what would happen when a ban on food imports from seven East European States expired. Community officials said the new levels would probably begin this weekend, when the ban expires, and last to at least September. The tough new levels conform to those in the United States. Agreement was seen as a victory for a group of countries led by West Germany, which had called for the lowest possible levels to reassure

the public about potential dangers to health. Another group, led by France, had called for less stringent measures to minimise interference with trade, and Greece had insisted on compensation for its farmers, whose income had been hit by the accident. East European countries included in the ban have protested vigorously against the embargo. They have argued that the ban was unjustified, hinting that it had been imposed for commercial rather than public health reasons.

The levels will also effectively set standards for radiation in the Community, easing trade flows that have been disrupted by national restrictions imposed since the accident.

Community food importers have also complained about the ban and other unco-ordinated

national measures to control trade in food. They said they had threatened total anarchy in food markets, especially for perishable fruit and vegetables.

Community States agreed yesterday not to set tougher limits for food imported into their countries from Community partners. ® Eighty people taken to a Moscow hospital after Chernobyl were dangerously ill, the official Novosti news agency said yesterday. It quoted Dr Angelina Guskova, a leading radiologist and department head at Moscow’s Hospital Number Six, as saying she and her colleagues had originally treated 200 patients after the accident.

The agency said about 70 were subsequently released, but added: "About 80 of the 120 patients

presently in Hospital Number Six are in extreme danger.”

A leading Soviet surgeon and Deputy Health Minister, Dr Yevgeny. Chazov, said in West I Germany yesterday that! 21 people had died, including 11 who had had bone marrow transplants. The Novosti report corrected a dispatch of Thursday, which indicated that up to 1000 people had been injured. Yesterday’s story said that within four hours of the accident a special medical team had gone to the scene to administer first-aid.

• A container that arrived in Japan on a Soviet ship had been found to be highly radioactive, apparently from exposure to nuclear fallout from Chernobyl, authorities said yesterday.