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 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."

Caesium-137 contamination was detected at 22 production facilities in a large industrial zone on Jakarta’s outskirts, including businesses that export frozen seafood. The detection followed a US Food and Drug Administration finding of Caesium-137 in a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp exported by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati. The FDA advised disposal of the shipment, said detected levels were far below intervention thresholds and would not pose an acute hazard, but warned of elevated cancer risk from long-term low-dose exposure. Indonesian authorities ordered emergency decontamination, involvement of the national nuclear agency, relocation of residents in highly contaminated areas, and health checks that identified nine people who tested positive for exposure.

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