WHO: No radiation cloud spreading from Japan

No significant international spread of radioactive material from Japan's earthquake-damaged nuclear reactors has been detected, a World Health Organization official said, after rumors surfaced in China of a radiation cloud passing across the region.

There is no substantial risk to human health for anyone living outside a 30-kilometer (20-mile) exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, which is 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo, Michael O'Leary, WHO's representative to China, said in an e-mailed statement today.

The embassies of China, France and Germany in Tokyo recommended their citizens leave the city. Rumors have been circulating by text messaging and other means of a threatening radiation cloud spreading across Asia and beyond from Japan, O'Leary said.

"Governments and members of the public are encouraged to take steps to halt these rumors, which are harmful to public morale," the Beijing-based envoy said.

"There is no evidence at this time of any significant international spread from the nuclear site." Radiological experts from the United Nations health agency are working closely with Japanese authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor and assess the evolving situation, O'Leary said.