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Santos Taking an Ethical Stand on Japaese Imports

Following the devastating effects of the Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, Santos Trading has been closely monitoring the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe and its relation to the health and contamination of products exiting Japan.

 

While Japanese authorities along with most major suppliers of Japanese goods assure the general public that stringent radiation checks have been put in place, Santos has maintained an air of caution as it prepared to run low on stock held in Australian warehouses.

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 Over months the Santos Ethical Advisory Committee discussed the implications of the issue and how it would affect supply of popular products such as Tamari, Miso and Seaweeds, however they concluded that the risk of contamination was too high to afford a lapse in their high health standards.

Santos investigations indicate that Australian and Japanese Health Authorities impose self-developed safe limits for radiation and that conventional testing methods only report on the most common isotopes. These safe limits have not been substantiated by the global scientific community and in some instance have been directly challenged as unreasonable.

For example evidence of radioactive iodine have been detected in breast milk of woman living East of Tokyo and were deemed by authorities to be below the safety limits for tap water consumption by infants. Officials from the Russian Institute of Radiation Safety have criticized Japanese Authorities for setting their safe radiation food levels too high. They stated that in some instances the Japanese safe levels are set at 20 times greater than corresponding standards from other countries.

In support for Sea Shepherd and its goals in the Antarctic, Santos then reviewed additional information coming to light on September 30th in Japanese press reports that the Japanese governments Fishery Agency would increase by almost 600 percent the annual budget given to the whaling program in Antarctica to strengthen the security of the whaling fleet. This allocation of 30 Million U.S. dollars has been siphoned off from International Tsunami relief funds destined for disaster stuck Japanese families and the rebuilding of infrastructure.

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