Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared on Tuesday the country was on "maximum alert" to bring the nuclear crisis under control, as news about radiation in the water and highly toxic plutonium in the soil continues to raise concerns. Radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant crippled by the earthquake and tsunami over two weeks ago has seeped its way into water, raw milk and vegetables, although the government said food contamination is too light to be harmful. Japanese parliament has been under scrutiny for their handling of the crisis. In the first Q&A session since the natural disaster, Kyodo news reports Kan said the country's outlook remains "unpredictable." Police said more than 1,000 bodies have been recovered, but the final death count is expected to exceed 18,000.
