Despite detection of "low" levels of radioactive cesium, Fukushima rice cleared for sale and consumption

The Mainichi Daily News has reported that the first early-harvest rice grown since the beginning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe began is being sent to market. The Japanese federal government prohibits rice containing more than 500 becquerels (radioactive disintegrations per second) of radioactive cesium per kilogram of rice from being sold and consumed. Rice contaminated to a level of 22 Bq/kg has been found in Fukushima Prefecture, but this has not impeded the first shipments of rice to market. However, the U.S. National Academy of Science has affirmed again and again, most recently in 2005-2006 in its BEIR VII report (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, 7th iteration) that any exposure to radioactivity carries a health risk, no matter how small, and that the risks are cumulative over a lifetime.