February 14th, 2009

by: the Japan Association on the Environmental Studies and the Japan Scientists' Association, the Research Committee for Pollution and Environmental Problems

[A provisional translation: this statement was unofficially translated from Japanese by IsshinTasuke21, and your advice to improve the English is welcome; its original text available from: http://www.jaes.sakura.ne.jp/.]

In regard to the plan for relocating the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market to the old site of Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., Toyosu factory at Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo where serious soil pollution was brought to light, a report was submited to the Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) on February 14th, 2009 by the "Technical Panel on the Countermeasure Works for Soil Pollution of the Proposed New Market Site at Toyosu (hereinafter called "Technical Panel ", comprising seven members, presided by Fumio Harashima, Professor of Tokyo Denki University). Its main message can be summarized as follows: To secure the safety of the market as a place where foods are handled, they have seen some good prospect in science and technology as well as in economics. We consider the conclusion as invalid and urge them to withdraw it. The reasons for this are largely as below:

(1) The Technical Panel was held behind closed doors at every meeting from the first one on August 15th, 2008 to the latest, twelfth one on February 3rd, 2009. As to its discussed contents, only a "summary" of a few pages was offered to the public on a Web site after every meeting, and nothing is offered to people outside for their verfication. Due to this reason, any discussions and their conclusion have no scientific credibility.

(2) The Technical Panel claims that they "widely invited new technologies and new methods from the public and judged them", as Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara instructed. But, as far as we can observe from what they have reported, they merely changed appearance of some conventional methods to call "new technologies and new methods." Also, despite that, in order to introduce more novelties, more verification tests for them are required to judge their actual applicability in Toyosu, any works of this kind have never been implemented. Apart from hearings with a few civil contractors who proposed the "new technologies and new methods", no further research has been carried out.

(3) The report's main feature is that on-site clean-up of the polluted soil, the structural simplification of impervious walls and other techniques reduce the cost for ground improvements from the initially estimated sum of 97.3 billion yen to 58.6 billion yen. However, prior to the Technical Panel , the "Expert Panel on the Countermeasure Works for Soil Pollutions of the Proposed New Market Site at Toyosu (hereinafter called "Expert Panel ", comprising four members, presided by Tatemasa Hirata, Professor of Wakayama University) concluded that surface soil should be completely moved out of the area, and that groundwater flow should be controlled by dense construction of impervious walls. The Technical Panel , having been merely commited to materialize the conclusions of the Expert Panel , arbitrarily shifted to low-budget without authority. Also, the report does not indicate any account for the estimation of costs and other details, which should be shown after contents of particular processing works and facilities, operation plans etc. were specified, under normal circumstances.

Just before the Technical Panel was set up, with more than two months to go until the deadline for the submission of final reports by research outfits, the above-mentioned Expert Panel was hurriedly closed on July 28th, 2008. Its untrustful way of doing things were brought to light thereafter by disclosure of the high-level pollution of benzo[a]pyren and the absence of the impermeable layer alleged to prevent expansion of contamination downwards on the top of the Yurakucho stratum. That is to say, not only concealing the negative side of the report, but also driving a bargain over the outcomes of more authoritative counterpart, the Technical Panel declared "safe." If such a word by the TMG and their delegated "researchers" is accepted without questioning, everyone in Tokyo equally will be obliged to bear the potential dangers in future. We are seekers after truth, so it is impossible for us to overlook the situation in silence.

To gather the knowledge and wisdom of people in Tokyo widely, to implement the full research and review of the Toyosu area in the circumstances opened to public inspection, and to freeze all the preparation works for the relocation till their conclusion is proved - if the TMG is unable to do even so, for now we urge them to abandon the relocation plan itself instantly and to start the redevelopment of the market at Tsukiji swiftly again.

We proclaim the statement, as above.