Tokyo government withheld data on toxicity at proposed fish market site

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Tokyo government withheld data on toxicity at proposed fish market site

It was learned on January 26 that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government had withheld an important finding that the concentration of a carcinogenic substance at the site of the planned relocation of the Tsukiji fish market was 115 times the figure made public previously.

In November 2007, the metropolitan government reported to its panel of soil pollution experts that it found 5.1 mg of benzopyrene, a highly toxic substance, per kilogram of soil on the relocation site in the Toyosu district in Koto Ward.

However, it failed to report to the panel or make public the findings of investigation conducted in June 2008, which showed that 590 mg of benzopyrene per kg of soil were detected in the same area.

The Japanese Communist Party Group of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members on the same day urged the government to make public all data obtained in the examination of the soil at the site of the planned relocation.

It also demanded that a further examination be conducted and that the relocation plan be reconsidered.

- Akahata, January 27, 2009