28 March 2014 (15:45 UTC-07 Tango)/26 Jumada l-Ula 1435/08 Farvardin 1393/28 Ding-Mao 4712

The Jamaican government has halted U.S. funded radiation testing of products coming from Japan.

Executive Director of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), Yvonne Hall, says she has no legal guidelines for complying with the demands of the U.S. Department of Energy.  Hall says her U.S. DoE trained and equipped employees have been stuck with a contaminated bus from Japan, but the BSJ has no legal authority to take any action.

It turns out that U.S. DoE trained and equipped Jamaican Customs has been passing the buck, turning over contaminated vehicles to the BSJ or Ministry of Health!   Jamaican Customs officials asked Japan to take back the contaminated vehicles, but apparently Japan has blown them off.

Jamaican lawmakers are trying to pass a new Radiation Protection Authority Bill, to clear up who has the authority to do what.