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Toxic water-release puts globalmorality at stake

2023-09-12

Japan's nuclear-contaminated water dumping poses a serious threat to the marine environment and, in turn, affects the values of responsible environmental stewardship shared by humanity, a Pakistani marine expert has said.

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▲Cai Meng [China Daily]

Japan's actions will have longstanding repercussions and the entire humankind will have to pay the price in the future, as polluting the ocean with nuclear waste raises concerns about ethical considerations, impacting the global community, said Baber Bilal Haider, deputy director-general of Pakistan's National Institute of Maritime Affairs. "Why doesn't Japan use it to recycle or for any other purpose? Unfortunately, the action shows that whatever Japan is dumping is not good for humanity and the land resources of the country, so it is using the sea as a dump yard," he said.

The criticism came as TEPCO, the Japanese nuclear plant's operator, said on Thursday that the first phase of releasing 7,800 metric tons of toxic water from Fukushima will end on Monday as planned. It gave no date for the start of the second discharge.

On Aug 24, Japan began discharging into the Pacific some of the 1.34 million tons of contaminated water that has been collected since a tsunami crippled the facility in 2011. The move has angered Asian neighbors.

Currently, there is no test that can determine the impact of nuclear waste on marine life, and it may take years to actually assess the loss it will incur to human health, said Haider, who is also director of the Indian Ocean Study Centre at the institute.

The global interest is that the oceans should be preserved for future generations, but the nuclear dumping will put the well-being and health of future generations at stake, he added.

"The sea is not a dump yard. It is a heritage of mankind and it has to be protected for our future generation. The land is shrinking due to the increase in population that is highly dependent on the ocean resources for food from the sea, and if you pollute it now, the future generations will be devoid of the food source from the ocean," he said.

Haider also said that while the Japanese government asserts that its dumping will not harm marine or human life, there is dissent within the country itself.

"Some Japanese citizens disagree and believe it will have adverse effects, and ultimately, the validity of these hypotheses can only be determined through on-site, long-term research spanning perhaps 20 to 30 years, and only then can a definitive report on the impact of the 2023 dumping be generated," he added.

Haider said the dumping could lead to far-reaching consequences.
"The unpredictability of water and air movements, along with the natural migration of marine life, poses challenges and may cause temperature shifts, alter salt composition, and introduce uncertainties," he added.

He suggested imposing a ban on seafood off the coast of Japan due to their potential hazards to human health after being affected by radioactive contaminants in the waters, adding that the ban will safeguard the well-being of consumers.

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