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US Customs heightens monitoring of incoming cargo, passengers from Japan for radiation
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin
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Brian Watt/KPCC
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US Customs heightens monitoring of incoming cargo, passengers from Japan for radiation
US Customs heightens monitoring of incoming cargo, passengers from Japan for radiation
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin hosted a media roundtable to discuss the agency's goals through 2013 this morning, including how they're preventing radioactive material from entering the country.
Commissioner Bersin said since 2003 Customs and Border Protection agents have used radiation protection devices at seaports and airports – not just in this country, but in 39 others.
Since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Bersin said agents have heightened their monitoring of passengers and cargo from there. So far, he said, the agents have not had one radiation alert that posed a danger to the United States.
The director of the agency's operations at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles joined the commissioner. He said while cargo from Japan in the last week has shown extremely low trace levels of radiation, those levels are lower than the imported granite tiles and toilets that pass through the ports every day.
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