 From Chernobyl to Fukushima: an interdisciplinary framework for managing and communicating food security risks after nuclear plant accidentsAlexander Belyakov ()
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2015, vol. 5, issue 3, 404-417 Abstract: This comparison of government disaster management and public communications after the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents seeks to create a framework for disaster management that enhances food resilience (the ability of food systems to withstand perturbations that could cause disruption of food supply); and in the specific case of nuclear disasters, the avoidance of contaminated food and provision of alternative foods. This paper integrates food security, emergency management, and risk communications perspectives. Misinformation and incomplete information can bias decision-making and political actions. When risk communication is inadequate, the public reacts with fear, mistrust, panic and stress. People have difficulty deciding what they can safely eat and what they should not eat. Many choose to reject all food from affected regions, which can compromise food security. Lack of proper information may lead to such extremes in behavior as avoidance of dairy products and consumption of untested foods, which may in fact have high levels of radioactivity. The measures taken by the USSR after the Chernobyl disaster lacked consistency and clarity and were not effective in providing food security for the affected people. The government also demonstrated a lack of attention to social justice in its dealings with people who moved back to the contaminated area, ignoring government policy that they should stay out. Those people still suffer from food insecurity. In Japan, food that met government safety levels was available, but many consumers nonetheless questioned the safety of food supplies and farmers often were confused about production and marketing. In both the Chernobyl and Fukushima cases, the evacuation of affected people was aimed at reducing exposure to radiation and did not sufficiently consider neither the psychological and physical health impacts of resettlement nor the security and safety of food supplies. Government responses would have been more effective in some regions if a timely distribution program of adequate, safe alternative foods (especially radioprotectors) from non-affected areas had been initiated. Copyright AESS 2015 Keywords: Food security; Nuclear safety; Chernobyl nuclear accident; Fukushima nuclear accident; Emergency management; Risk communication (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:5:y:2015:i:3:p:404-417 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/s13412-015-0284-2 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences is currently edited by Walter A. Rosenbaum More articles in Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences from Springer, Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences |
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