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The Truth About Fukushima

The Truth About Fukushima

Melissa Aki, Yahoo Contributor Network

 
Feb 22, 2014

What is the truth about safety concerns regarding the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which occurred in Japan in March, 2011? For many years we have been told that everything was under control, but there is new information out there that suggests that it's not. How is radiation from the Fukushima meltdown affecting Japan and the whole world? What information is not being reported in the mainstream media?

The effects of radiation poisoning from the meltdown continue to be denied by officials in this country and worldwide despite evidence that suggests the opposite. As of February 4, 2014, Japan Times reported that eight additional children under the age of eighteen in the Fukushima prefecture were diagnosed with thyroid gland cancer and 44.2% of children in the area show signs of thyroid abnormalities. In addition, 70 U.S. sailors who participated in the USS Ronald Reagan's Fukushima relief efforts have come down with ailments such as leukemia, thyroid cancer, and brain tumors.

On this side of the Pacific, scientist in San Diego recently analyzed Bull Kelp and Giant Kelp collected from the California coast and confirmed that it contains cesium, a radioactive isotope. Large scale animal die-offs and other anomalies are also occurring along the West Coast of the U.S. One in particular is the "melting starfish" phenomenon, in which starfish develop white-colored sores and disintegrate, turning to goo in a matter of days or even hours.

The scope of the issue is far too big for many to comprehend. Those who are eager to spread the truth about the issues surrounding the Fukushima nuclear disaster are often called "alarmist" and dismissed by the general population, but it's hard to believe that there is no danger when there are reports of insurance companies refusing to cover any radiation-related claims and people stocking up on potassium iodide to protect themselves from radiation. Mixed-messages and lack of information in the mainstream media have left many people confused and alternative sources of information are often labeled as "conspiracy websites".

Blogger and journalist,Iori Mochizuki created Fukushima Diary as a response to the media blackout on the subject. On his website as well as his Facebook page, there is valuable up-to-date information on the Fukushima nuclear disaster and he even goes as far as offering info for those who wish to evacuate Japan. Fukushima Update is another valuable site whose mission is to "press for greater accountability, transparency and openness from government, regulators, and media with regards to nuclear power and its attendant risks."

Many citizens are now doing their own research and purchasing Geiger counters to test for radiation on beaches, in the water, and in food. Blogs and Facebook pages such as Sherrie Questioning All and Fukushima Cover-Up have also taken to warning people about the dangers of radiation from Fukushima. In the end we must gather information from all news sources in order to know how to proceed. Some good resources on Fukushima information include RT (Russia Today), ENE News, and Global Research.

Sources:

Fukushima Kids Have Skyrocketing Number of Thyroid Abnormalities - Report, RT (Russia Today).

Eight more Fukushima Kids Found With Thyroid Cancer; Disaster Link Denied, The Japan Times

Mikael Thalen,Scientists Confirm Fukushima Radiation in California Kelp, Story Leak

Elizabeth Weise, The Starfish Are Dying, and No One Knows Why, USA Today

Crab Mutations in Alaska

Anchorage Daily News, July 12, 2014 : Alaska The crab’s shell was a deep periwinkle, likely the result of a naturally occurring genetic mutation, Kent said. The rare discovery thrilled Norton Sound fishery managers and biologists in the Northwest Alaska city. [...] Justin Noffsker [assistant plant manager at the Norton Sound Seafood Center] said he’s never seen anything like this [...] In his 11 years with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Kent had never seen a blue red king crab either [...] In September, during a pot survey in Cape Nome, Kent saw his first white red king crab, another rare coloration believed to be caused by a genetic mutation. He has also recently seen piebald crabs, spotted with irregular patches of white. Another had a red carapace but yellow legs. All the variations are considered to be the kind of “normal, random, very rare” mutations that occur within animal populations, Kent said. The environment and the crab’s diet could play a role, he said, but he doubts it. [...] In January, wholesalers in Hokkaido, Japan, found [a blue-colored red king crab] in a Russian shipment. Read more...

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‘Melting’ Sea Star Epidemic Reaches Oregon Coast

 by Mikael Thalen
May 7th, 2014
Updated 05/07/2014 at 8:21 pm

Scientists announced the discovery of “melting” sea stars off the coast of Oregon this week, the state’s first known sighting of the mysterious condition that began appearing throughout West Coast waters last year.

Image: Sea Star (Oregon Coast Aquarium).

According to Jim Burke, Oregon Coast Aquarium’s director of animal husbandry and dive operations, several species of sea star in Yaquina Bay were recently found in the advanced wasting stage.
“One could speculate that it’s just beginning and will continue to be detrimental to the sea star population,” Burke told the Statesman Journal. Oregon now joins California, Washington state and Western Canada, where disintegrating sea stars continue to baffle scientists.

“There’s a lot of scientists and researchers still scratching their heads,” Burke said. Others such as Kristen Milligan, program coordinator for the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, noted the severity of the situation as well. “The current outbreak along the West Coast is ‘true’ wasting disease, meaning that sea stars have these extreme symptoms while in suitable ‘healthy’ habitat,” Milligan said.

Oregon Coast Aquarium divers will be joined by experts at the University of California at Santa Cruz to begin weekly surveys of two effected dive sites. Although samples from other states have been sent to several labs for analysis, a conclusive cause has yet to be determined according to researchers.

Last November, Storyleak spoke with veteran videographer and underwater explorer Laura James, who discovered more than 100 melting sea stars in the waters of West Seattle. “We don’t know what is causing it,” James said. “The sea stars that are dying are apex predators of the seafloor and a keystone species. What will be interesting is what will happen to the biodiversity now in the aftermath.”

Underwater footage captured by James first revealed just how devastating the die-off had become, with some scientists calling it one of the worst ever recorded. “This was beyond my imagination,” James said. “It was like carnage or a mass grave. Dead and dying sea stars, body on top of body.”

While scientists have remained tight-lipped on possible causes, the public continues to question the die-off’s link to the ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Given radiation’s ability to bio-accumulate in sea life, other recent anomalies such as the sardine population’s historic decline have many worried.

Just as researchers at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems in Spain predicted, increasing amounts of radiation have begun accumulating along the West Coast since the beginning of 2014. Although sea life such as Tuna have been contaminated with “low levels” of nuclear radiation from swimming through the pacific since at least 2012, scientists analyzing kelp off the coast of San Diego confirmed the presence of cesium earlier this year.

The recent discovery of “never before seen” conjoined gray whale calves off the coast of Northern Mexico has also sparked increased debate. While scientists continue to downplay the situation in Japan, a fuel fragment from Fukushima just found in Norway has proven the situation to be much more disastrous than previously thought.

FDA Slow to Respond to Fukushima Radiation, Call to Action 4/10

By Kimberly Roberson
Posted Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 06:25pm EDT

The Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) is urging the public to participate in a National Call in to Action Day this coming Thursday, April 10th by contacting their elected Representatives in demanding a rational, transparent, and binding level for testing radiation in food.  This is in response to very recent statements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it sees no reason “to alter consumption of specific foods imported from Japan or domestically produced food including seafood..”

There is a Facebook page for Becquerel Awareness Day (“It’s B.A.D., because rads are bad to eat!”) with talking points and more information.  It also links to an Event page where people can RSVP and invite others to join.  All that’s needed on April 10th is a phone to let DC know we’re demanding that FDA act responsibly in the ongoing wake of Fukushima.  FFAN will also be using other social media for this event and welcomes your participation. Please click here https://www.facebook.com/RADSrBAD2EAT

Becquerel Awareness Day’s National Call in to Action is in response to FDA’s actions as outlined in this press release:   Washington, April 3, 2014 ~ The Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) responded to statements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the agency is not advising people “to alter their consumption of specific foods imported from Japan or domestically produced food including seafood…” in the wake of the ongoing radioactive releases at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.  The National Academy of Sciences has stated that there is no safe dose of radiation, therefore FFAN rejects the current high levels that FDA recommends for food.

FFAN coalition member groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health and Ecological Options Network filed a legal Citizen Petition with the FDA on March 12, 2013 to lower the amount of radioactive cesium allowed in food. The FDA’s only direct response to FFAN’s Citizen Petition is a letter dated June of 2013 stating they require more time to respond.

Meanwhile Tokyo Electric and Power Co (TEPCO) has admitted to dumping at minimum 300 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean daily, adding to the Pacific Ocean burden and that of its fish.  Bluefin tuna caught off San Diego in an August 2012 study demonstrated elevated amounts of Cesium 134 and 137, which are considered characteristic isotopic markers for Fukushima radiation. The American Medical Association (AMA) resolution has called on the U.S. government to test all U.S. seafood for radiation due to Fukushima and fully report the results to the public. In addition, scientists from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography have found levels of cesium in seawater off the Vancouver Canada coast that can be attributed to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The levels are currently low, but the presence of cesium 134 confirms the contamination to be from Fukushima Daiichi.

“If the FDA wants to claim seafood is safe, then they need to institute a more robust food testing process. Considering the continued dumping of Fukushima radiation into the Pacific, we need to constantly monitor our seafood because the contamination levels we see today could certainly change. This catastrophe and its impact on seafood will not be over for a very long time,” stated Cindy Folkers of Beyond Nuclear.

Three years after the nuclear disaster began in Japan on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, FDA has not authorized a rational, transparent, and binding limit for radiation in food. Instead, they recommend at minimum 1,200 Becquerels per kilogram of Cesium 134 and 137, the highest allowable levels for radiation in food in the world. The FDA’s limit is 12 times higher than Japan’s meaning that, in addition to seafood, other food and beverages considered far too dangerous for consumption there can be exported to U.S. citizens, including vulnerable children and pregnant women.   FFAN’s petition seeks to significantly lower the current allowable levels of radiation in all food, including seafood to 5 Bq/kg, nearly identical to the limits proposed by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Germany and the EU.

“Why does FDA think it is ok to expose kids in the us to 12 times more radioactive poison than children in Japan? Even Japan’s limits are not protective enough. If this is the standard FDA uses to determine what is safe, then our children are in danger,” stated Folkers, adding “Without a responsible contamination limit set, the FDA will doom a certain number of people to unnecessary disease, particularly children who are much more vulnerable to radiation.”

After the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986, children in Belarus were found to have heart and hormonal problems with approximately 1% of the current U.S. limit for radioactive Cesium in their bodies. Significant areas in the EU remain off limits to cattle and sheep production 28 years after Chernobyl due to its impact on the environment and food supply.

“The outsourcing of testing to other countries food programs and a lack of transparency in FDA’s own testing has left consumers flying blind when it comes to making personal decisions about food safety,” says Nancy Foust of SimplyInfo.org.  “The current FDA intervention level for radiation in food is far too high and does not consider all the research on health consequences.”

The AMA joins FFAN in demanding the public’s ‘Right to Know’ regarding radiation levels in food.  Both want a national database and transparent seafood testing, and FFAN invites others to join in demanding that FDA reduce the amount of radiation permitted in our food in a transparent and responsible manner.

Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) is a coalition of groups and concerned citizens working for safe food policy in the U.S.