An amount of benzene 79 times the government-set safety limit was detected among other toxic chemicals in groundwater taken from the site in Tokyo’s Toyosu area where the famous Tsukiji fish market is to be relocated, officials of the Tokyo metropolitan government said on Saturday. With the shocking result prompting questions over the veracity of data from previous groundwater tests, which had rarely found any problematic levels of toxins, the metropolitan government’s panel of experts said it will re-examine the groundwater there and release the result of the probe in March. The new finding could delay Governor Yuriko Koike’s decision on whether to allow the planned market relocation to proceed. . “I am surprised to know that detected levels came in far higher than expected,” Koike told reporters. She said separately that the metropolitan government “will have experts discuss” how to deal with the soil contamination. This is the second time that toxic substances contained in groundwater samples from the relocation site have been found to exceed environmental safety limits. Benzene, which also results from the production of gas, is known to cause cancer. The area used to be a gas production plant. The metropolitan government said toxins were detected from groundwater at 72 out of 201 monitoring points. At one spot, benzene 79 times the allowable limit was detected, while arsenic at 3.8 times the government-set environmental limit, and even cyanide, were also detected.
