Flights from Tokyo triggering radiation detectors at US airports

Friday, March 18, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: radiation detectors, airports, health news

(NaturalNews) Reports have begun to surface about potentially suspicious levels of harmful radiation on airplanes, cargo, and even passengers themselves, flying into US airports from Tokyo, Japan. NBC Chicago has indicated that up to six planes from Tokyo that landed at O'Hare International Airport (ORD) tested positive for radiation in their cargo portions. And at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in Texas, some passengers and luggage showed signs of radiation during routine scans, though officials later said the radiation was actually from a common medical device.

While the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says that radiation levels similar to those recently detected in Chicago and Dallas are quite common, officials plan to keep a closer eye on anything coming from Japan just to be cautious.

"In an exercise of caution and just to make sure that everyone remains safe, we are doing screening of passengers and cargo if there happens to be even a blip in terms of radiation," said US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley addressed the O'Hare situation at a recent news conference, but refused to offer specific details about it to reporters. Like many other local and state officials, Daley directed the media to federal authorities whom he says are in charge of handling the situation -- and apparently also in charge of what is reported about it. No hazardous levels of radiation have yet been detected on flights coming from Japan, according to reports.

According to other reports, escalating radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are deterring firemen, engineers, and other relief workers from effectively handling and containing the situation on the ground in Japan (http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/17/...). Conflicting reports also leave unclear whether or not the pools containing spent fuel rods in Unit 4 of the reactor still contain any water. Temperature readings from Unit 4 have been unreported since Wednesday (https://www.naturalnews.com/031734_nuclear_fa...).

Sources for this story include:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42134880/ns/wo...