At the Very Least, Your Days of Eating Pacific Ocean Fish Are Over – with updates

Opinion by Gary Stamper

The heart-breaking news from Fukushima just keeps getting worse…a LOT worse…it is, quite simply, an out-of-control flow of death and destruction. TEPCO is finally admitting that radiation has been leaking to the Pacific Ocean all along. and it’s NOT over….

I find myself moving between the emotions of sorrow and anger.

It now appears that anywhere from 300 to possibly over 450 tons of contaminated water that contains radioactive iodone, cesium, and strontium-89 and 90, is flooding into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima Daichi site everyday. To give you an idea of how bad that actually is, Japanese experts estimate Fukushima’s fallout at 20-30 times as high as as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings in 1945

There’s a lot you’re not being told. Oh, the information is out there, but you have to dig pretty deep to find it, and you won’t find it on the corporate-owned evening news.

• An MSNBC article in April of 2012 reported that seals and polar bears were found to have “external maladies” that consisted of fur loss and open sores, obvious signs of radiation burns from the Fukushima meltdown, despite the conclusions of the article.
• Fukushima radiation appears to be causing an epidemic of dead and starving Sea Lions in California and the FDA has refused to test for radiation
• Update: Huffington Post reports that the reactors used “dirty fuel,” a combination of plutonium and uranium (MOX), which means we can never return to this place again. This comes from a Russian nuclear physicist who is an expert on the kinds of gasses being released at Fukushima.
• .Almost a third more US West Coast newborns may face thyroid problems after Fukushima nuclear disaster
• Contaminated water from Fukushima reactors could double radioactivity levels of US coastal waters in 5 years — “We were surprised at how quickly the tracer spread”

above: German Scientists have calculated the dispersion of Cs-137 in the Pacific Ocean

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE PACIFIC OCEAN FOOD CHAIN? – May 2013 – Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology reported in early 2012 that they have detected radioactive cesium from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in plankton collected from all 10 points in the Pacific they checked, with the highest levels at around 25 degrees north latitude and 150 degrees west longitude. Plankton, and the radiation they contain, moves right up the food chain through fish, whales, seals, etc., and when larger fish eat smaller fish. Kyodo: Highest levels of Fukushima contamination in plankton already east of Hawaii?

A WARNING TO SEAFOOD LOVERS EVERYWHERE – Scientists previously reported higher-than-expected concentrations of radiation in fish off Japan. Now there are calls for testing of seafood sold in the U.S. Although contaminated air, rainfall and even radioactive debris from Japan have drifted toward the U.S. West Coast since the disaster occurred 2 1/2 years ago, scientists are unclear about how the contaminated waters could impact the health of Americans, and while scientists say that 300 tons of contaminate water is diluted in the Pacific, no one knows how long that’s been going during those 2 1/2 years as we also now know TEPCO has been lying all along. Nuclear experts are calling on the U.S. government to test West Coast waters and Pacific seafood sold in the U.S. in the wake of Japan’s alarming admission about an ongoing radiation leak, something the EPA and the FDA have so far refused to do, as they are only testing imported fish, not wild-caught. WHY? The only way to protect your children and grandchildren is by NOT EATING SEAFOOD from the Pacific Ocean until we have better information. Source.Information posted at the website of heThe Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California recommends not buying any fish from the Pacific Ocean or western states, including Baja.

WHAT YOU HAVEN’T BEEN TOLD ABOUT FISH CONTAMINATION

• Tissue samples taken from 15 bluefin caught in August, five months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, all 15 contained reactor byproducts cesium-134 and cesium-137.
• The 15 fish tested were only exposed to radiation for a short time. But bluefin arriving in California now will have been exposed to the Fukushima radiation for much longer.
• Unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor. Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms that have already taken it in.
• The overwhelming scientific consensus is that there is no safe level of radiation … and radiation consumed and taken into the body is much more dangerous than background radiation.
• The Telegraph notes that scientists tagged a bluefin tuna and found that it crossed between Japan and the West Coast three times in 600 days: All Pacific migratory fish are likely Fukushima contaminated.
• Why have Contaminated Alaskan Halibut been found even though halibut don’t migrate? The cesium-134 contamination from radioactive plumes doesn’t just fall on land.
• Study shows Fukushima nuclear pollution becoming more concentrated as it approaches U.S. West Coast — Plume crosses ocean in a nearly straight line toward N. America — Appears to stay together with little dispersion (MODEL)
• Pacific herring in Canada bleeding from eyeballs, faces, fins, tails — I’ve never seen fish looking this bad — All 100 examined were bloody — Officials informed of hemorrhaging soon after 3/11 — Gov’t ignoring problem.
• Unprecedented: Sockeye salmon at dire historic low on Canada’s Pacific coast — “We think something happened in the ocean” — “The elders have never seen anything like this at all” — Alaska and Russia also affected.
• Japan Times: Fukushima Daiichi radioactive water problems seem ‘uncontainable’ — Believed to be wreaking environmental havoc upon Pacific Ocean.
• Reuters: Crisis deepening at Fukushima nuclear plant; Upgraded to ‘Level 3 Serious Incident’ — Represents a 100-fold increase in “severity of a radiological release” — Tepco says highly radioactive leakage continues, but unknown where from.
• It’s more than obvious that TEPCO officials have no idea what they’re doing, and the big question is why aren’t world governments jumping in to contain what’s going on? Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean may very well be dying.

Australian Physician and anti-nuclear advocate Dr. Helen Caldicott Warns of Contaminated Fish and Ocean

Japan Nuclear Crisis: The Dangers of Radiation

Quotes from Dr Caldicott

• “Plumes of radioactivity from Fukushima are migrating in the Pacific towards the U.S. West Coast.”
• “[Chernobel]] is one of the most monstrous cover-ups in the history of medicine”
• “Then we extrapolate to japan. Japan is – by orders of magnitude – many times worse than Chernobyl.”
• “I knew the three GE engineers who helped design the GE Mark 1 reactors. They resigned because they knew they were dangerous. Japan built them on an earthquake fault.”
• “Diablo and San Onofre are both built on earthquake faults, haven’t you seen enough of an earthquake to see what it does…and in a tsunami area.”

What is the greatest threat to humanity? We are, of course….and our technology. Like a dangerous weapon in the hands of a child, technology has overtaken our capacity to control potential consequences.  Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, led by director Nick Bostrom, says we have entered this new kind of technological era that we have no track record of  surviving.

Our technological intelligence may have the potential for creating a better world, but so far, in areas of the economy, genetics and biologics, arms and warfare, security and surveillance, as well as the environment and energy, technology is also completely indifferent to the law of unintended consequences.

Fukushima is what happens when we have the moral responsibility of infants and the technology of adults.

Update: August 16th, 2013

It’s been an interesting 36 hours: This website went from 200-300 visitors a day to 0ver 16,000 visitors yesterday and over 39,000 today (so far!). There have also been more comments than any other post that has appeared here, and honestly, the majority of them have been negative.

It started with the graphic that I posted. It turns out, unknowingly to me, that it was an image from NOAA that showed the Tsunami wave height that had been edited to look like the Pacific Ocean Fukushima radiation path.  I’m going to look for updated information and will change the graphic and accompanying information as soon as I have time to look for it. Unfortunately, the gigantic jump in viewership crashed my site and I’ve been working on that since yesterday morning. Support and I finally figured out what had happened and I have upgraded the site to handle the traffic.

The negative comments seem to be mostly from people who aren’t willing to have a conversation, demanding that I take the article down, that it’s not credible, that the information is garbage, and even with some resorting to name calling and insults. I have left them all up.  Even the one that says I don’t have dose counts. Well, if the FDA would actually do dose counts, we might be able to know that, but since they’ve refused to measure radiation, we can’t know.

We should just trust them when they tell us the radiation levels are safe (levels that keep on changing), that GMO’s are not harmful, that we don’t do do experiments on US citizens, that we’re not spying on the American people, the economy is improving, and that we should live in fear of terrorists. I ask, who are the real terrorists?

Support and I were concerned the the site crash was caused by a “denial of service attack,” but after checking the access logs, we agreed it wasn’t likely, but not out of the question. I find it unbelievable one article could cause that drastic of a jump in hits. There’s also been a significant number of new members, non of whom are paying or making donations. Let’s see if it holds. I doubt it.

I believe the article is credible and that while reasonable people can disagree, a lot of the negative comments a have a “climate-denier” feel to them. How many years has that argument been going on? Most people are going to believe what they want – or have to – believe. it’s not coming through mainstream sources so it can’t be true? Get real.

For those who say that if I don’t take the article down, “it clearly shows they are not interested in facts, only in trashing the system,” in case you haven’t noticed, the system needs no help being trashed…it’s perfectly capable of doing that itself.

Meanwhile, here’s some more fodder for the fodder cannons.

MSN: Nuclear experts call for testing U.S. West Coast waters and Pacific seafood for Fukushima contamination — “I definitely recommend FDA and EPA increase their vigilance”

The Fukushima Nightmare Gets Worse

Water, Water Everywhere: Incentives and Options at #Fukushima Daiichi and Beyond

Insight: After disaster, the deadliest part of Japan’s nuclear clean-up

Update: August 18th, 2013

The original map posted in the article that many pointed out was an edited version of wave height has been replaced with a video simulation from this article,  can also be viewed on You Tube, and  is originally from this website. Thanks to sharp and informed readers for sending me links. One commenter said that the simulation is sorely in need of updating as a result of new information, but does not post a link.

I’ll be responding to many of the comments and adding new information and updates  in tomorrow’s CIC Newsletter (issue #28, 4/19/2013), which will be solely dedicated to the Fukushima disaster and it’s implications. If you’re not on my mailing list, you can get on here or pick it up off of my Facebook page.

Update: August 21st, 2013

I have been accused of plagiarism and copyright violation from a source website (see the accusation here ) in spite of the message on the website that says, “DUST OFF YOUR BLOGS AND GET ACTIVE AGAIN ABOUT FUKUSHIMA! Share, like, tweet, flip out!.”

As many of you know, CIC is a non-commercial and educational 501(c)3 organization. I stand by the use of the quotes from that website because I feel that it falls within “Fair Use” parameters because we were acting in a “news reporting” mode providing commentary for the purpose of informing the public. Determination of whether copyright infringement has taken place can ultimately only be decided in a federal court. In the meantime, the legal department of my webhost, bluehost, has sent me an email stating that I must remove the article within 48 hours or they will take my website down. I’ll be contacting my attorney next and then issue a statement to them about fair use regulations. Here’s why this falls under fair use:

• I have not profited from the use (we’re a non-profit)
• There is no commercial activity
• There is no entertainment
• There is no bad-faith behavior (Links to the original sections were provided)
• There is no denying credit to the quotes from the original author
• The quotes were used for teaching
• The quotes were used in a transformative use with an entirely different summation

Meantime, I have removed every quote and every link from that website, replacing them with other links and information that I believe do not affect the article whatsoever. This new version will stay up at  this point. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments.

Meanwhile, if you’re one of dozens of websites that have reposted my original article, you may freely repost this one with my permission, as even though may work is also copyrighted, anyone is free to repost it with a credit back to this website.

Update, Sept. 4th, 2013

Here’s a “see if you can stomach it” video from Steven Starr, Director of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at the University of Missouri and is an Associate member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and has been published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. His writings appear on the websites of PSR, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, Scientists for Global Responsibility, and the International Network of Scientists Against Proliferation. Since 2007, he has worked with the governments of Switzerland, Chile, and New Zealand, in support of their efforts at the United Nations to eliminate thousands of high-alert, launch-ready nuclear weapons.