JT Reassurance on Radiation Levels

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 09/13/2011

Tests by Japan Tobacco Inc. on Japanese domestic tobacco have found that radiation levels are within its own limits, according to a Wall Street Journal blog by Yoree Koh. The company said on Tuesday that in order to allay consumer concern surrounding the country's worst-ever nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi it had been conducting tests since mid-August. JT said it had run tests on samples from all 35 municipalities where this year's tobacco had been grown and that none of the results had exceeded its own standard of 500 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium-133 and cesium-137 and 2,000 Bq/kg of radioactive iodine. In the absence of official limits, JT adopted the same benchmark as the level set in the Food Sanitation Law for vegetables. The company plans to re-examine the tobacco three more times: before processing, before manufacturing, and before product shipment. Enditem