Published: October 15th, 2011 at 7:53 pm ET
|
NHK, Oct. 15 — High concentrations of radioactive cesium have been found in plankton [...]
Researchers from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology [...] say a wide range of fish feed on animal plankton and that the contamination could accumulate in the food chain and have a more serious impact when it gets into relatively large fish.
The research group’s leader, Professor Takashi Ishimaru, says the plankton were so heavily contaminated because sea currents continuously carried contaminated water southward from the nuclear plant. [...]
Read More: Radioactive cesium found in plankton off N-plant
Published: October 15th, 2011 at 7:53 pm ET
|
sending...
Different perspectives
Mayhem: I’m a poisoned food chain. Anything that eats me…becomes part of the poisoned food chain. And then, *wham*! you’re a social pariah with nosebleeds, metal taste, body aches, hart attacks, bone cancer, death. If you chose to stay in a cut rate ecosystem you’ll have to deal with mayhem…like me.
Tepco’s Advocate: Well if plankton, the very foundation of Japan’s food chain, can live and thrive in a radiated environment, then so can you.
Nuke shill: This “high level of radiation” in plankton was only tested by one source. The government of Japan has not found radiation levels in plankton this high…and this very same government was given high marks by the IAEA!
Anthony: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzEpLQp-kTYKJ_yjstavCBwXO5pQ?docId=8f2c593522d94b0497e1a8c789381e61
Paper shows Japan feared aftershocks at nuke plant
TOKYO (AP) — Japan feared three months after the Fukushima nuclear power plant was hit by a tsunami that aftershocks could further damage one of its fuel storage pools, causing rods inside to melt and spew radiation within hours, according to a newly released document.
ocifferdave: Japan is flippin’ fracked.
Report Comment
Plankton is the beginning of the life food chain, kill the beginning and the rest die too !
Read about all the starving diseased whale/other sea life of late ?
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/stories/in/0000000000000169
Plankton also produces 40 to 70% of oxygen in the oceans waters and earth ! .. so when dish die of lack of oxygen, depending on location and temperature’s ! Without decease’s can run rapid !
Study up on Corexit and Sea bratt #4 and the oil eating bacteria in the GOM and in Austrian waters !
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/
Report Comment
this means the sea food from okkaido cold waters is still good?
Report Comment
KX typed these pixels of light:
>sea food from okkaido cold waters is still good?
SP: Seafood from anywhere off the coast of Japan (all the islands) is compromised as the contaminated plankton floats, sick fish migrate, and the contaminated water continues gushing out of the plant on the seashore.
The feed and bleed watering operations to keep the reactors from blowing again are massive….nuclear lava fire is just barely kept cool by the hundreds of tons of water the Tepco boys are injecting each day. A lot of that irradiated water is escaping back to the ocean through leaks.
I just wonder if they are going to issue a dead zone prohibition for traveling ships off Fukushima, much less fishing vessels. Unless a ship is bringing supplies to stop the emissions at Daiichi, then I see no reason for ships to get contaminated with their equipment traveling through MOX-contaminated waters. This zone should be hundreds of kilometers wide.
Probably no one in the world should be eating seafood from the Japan archipelago until after the plant is capped and monitoring proves the sealife is safe. But the chances of that happening in this decade or maybe even this millennia look slim.
Rock lobster from South Africa and Chile salmon looks fairly good for a few months…not sure how long even that part of the world will be safe. Ocean currents are slower, but the air can also carry toxins that will come down to other seashores in rain and snow storms.
All in all it is a tragedy rising to epic proportions in the annals of world history. Worst case scenario is that the Fukushima Daiichi disaster becomes the most serious threat to mankind since the Black Death pandemic in the 1300s killed close to 200 million people.
That death rate was approximately 50% of the population of the Northern Hemisphere in the 1300s. The same death rate today would be 3 billion deaths. 6.7 billion people on earth in 2011 and only 700 million live in the Southern Hemisphere.
Report Comment
forgot to put $) sarcasm off
Report Comment
Well, yeah, it would have made me not think you were asking a serious question. lol
I had that commentary in the my brain hopper anyway for this thread…you just gave me a subtopic.
Thanks!
Report Comment
I think there will be more surprise’s if they start to take reads on ships hull’s for radioactivity !
I believe many of these boats and ships may require to be abandoned for the contamination to high for men to stay arbored !
Report Comment
may 2011
“It is not enough for the authorities to keep putting band-aids on each problem as it appears. The Japanese government must launch a comprehensive, ongoing analysis of the marine environment along the Fukushima coast, fully disclose all information about the release of contaminated water, and make proactive protection and compensation efforts to support the people most affected and at risk from this disaster.”
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/marine-life-soaking-up-radiation-along-fukush/blog/35003/
Report Comment
“…a comprehensive, ongoing analysis of the marine environment along the Fukushima coast…” is exactly what is needed to allow continued worldwide air and seafood contamination and to prevent the awareness of what is really required: a plus-size Chernobyl-scale entombment and containment dome that hopefully would deal with the cause of the problem.
A one yen coin for your thoughts GP: at least the 1 gram, 1 yen coin floats and will stay above the contaminated Honshu water.
Report Comment
According to the Japanese Fisheries Agency, several exporters have had their seafood orders cancelled by clients. The demand for sushi has shrunk dramatically since the March 11 tsunami, especially higher-end restaurants that only import authentic Japanese fish.
Radiation Affecting Fishing Industry
April 06, 2011
“Until the situation stabilizes in the country, it seems unlikely that guests will feel comfortable consuming Japanese produce,” said Sally De Souza, public relations manager for the Mandarin Oriental hotel group, in an interview with Bloomberg.
The fish export business is an important one to the Japanese economy. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries, Japan exported 195 billion yen ($2.4 billion) worth of seafood last year alone.
http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/news/radiation-affecting-fishing-industry-86559.aspx
Report Comment
What are the Side Effects of Radiation Exposure From Bikini Island?
“The radiation exposure has been absorbed into the surface of the island and is carried through the water. This leaves soil contaminated and many of the plants remain inedible because they contain high doses of radiation. This is also true for sea life. Fish and other sea animals are inedible because of the high doses of radiation.”
“The radiation exposure has left the island with almost no visitors. This has allowed a dramatic comeback for the coral wildlife. Although this is a small feat for the little island, it still seems that due to both the initial detonation and additional radiation exposure there are still 42 species of coral that are missing”.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5965848_side-radiation-exposure-bikini-island_.html
Report Comment
Wow, what’s going to be the cause and effect of uncountable gazillionbilllionquatrillions of becquerels released continuously throughout the Pacific Ocean and entire Northern Hemisphere? How diluted does the Japan Government know the releases will be for us over here? They assured us it would be diluted, I am interested in seeing the backup data to those claims now. I haven’t been able yet, to find anything which significantly or conclusively supports the Japanese Governments claims.
Are we going to survive this?
Report Comment
We will… But teach your children to ask that question…
Report Comment
Chernobyl:
Understanding Some of the True Costs of Nuclear Technology
“Inexplicably, WHO had a special project on brain damage in the Chernobyl territories, which was abruptly stopped after the first definitive results. It is becoming clear that low-dose and low-dose rates of radiation have a profound effect upon fine structures of the nervous system, upon higher nervous system function and upon neuropsychiatry function. . . .
It takes 10 decades for an isotope to completely decay, thus the approximately 30-year half-lives for Sr-90 and Cs-137 mean it will take nearly three centuries before they have decayed, a mere blink of the eye when compared to Plutonium-239 (Pu-239) with a half-life of 24,100 years.”
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/Chernobyl/
Report Comment
Published on Sunday, September 11, 2011 by The Japan Times Effect of Contaminated Soil on Food Chain Sparks Fears
Cesium absorption through roots may have long-term effect on farming
by Mizuho Aoki
“…..Other foods, such as marine produce, won’t be as easy to handle, experts say. After the Chernobyl accident, for example, the radioactive contamination of fish peaked between 6 to 12 months after the disaster.
The Fisheries Agency, meanwhile, has asked nine prefectures on the Pacific coast to increase their sampling rates to prevent contaminated fish from landing in supermarkets.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/11
Report Comment
I have been stacking long-dated 2012-2016 Pacific canned tuna and salmon since after the Lehman event, and then tripled my supply after 3/11 while wondering how many more months pre-Fuku-contaminated seafood would be available on CA grocery shelves.
Recently I asked StarKist if they would comment on the locations and length of their Pacific canned tuna delivery pipelines, but now wondering if the truth is already being suppressed and corporatized:
“Could you tell us the locations where your several varieties of Pacific tuna are caught, and the number of months, weeks or days that elapse between the time each variety is caught, and the time the canned products are put on the grocery shelves in California?”.
A few more questions like mine and I expect more of the decreasing number of doors to the truth in corporate America will be permantly slammed shut and locked, as has already been done in the u.s. bank-financial sector, and, more tragically, in the Japanese radiation discussion.
Report Comment
I don’t know about canned tuna, but Pacific fish were giving me metal-mouth already in April.
Report Comment
True cost of tuna
The biggest tuna fishery in terms of volume is skipjack – the tuna most likely to end up in cans. While skipjack is not yet overfished, if fishing continues at current rates it won’t be able to sustain itself. What’s more, the methods used to net skipjack all too often catch young yellowfin and bigeye, threatening these species further. Yellowfin, a much more commercially valuable species, makes up 35 percent of the world’s catch. The majestic bluefin only represents 1.5 percent of the landed volume of tuna, but its dollar value is astronomical. In 2001, a single bluefin tuna set an all time record when it sold for US$173,600 in Japan.
Numerous other marine life are hooked and netted in the global tuna fisheries with 100 million sharks, and tens of thousands of turtles killed every year causing devastation to the entire marine ecosystems.
source: Greenpeace USA
*bon appétit
Report Comment
Report Comment
the time to take delivery on seafood futures was a while back.
Report Comment
radioactive reasons?…..A mysterious and potentially widespread disease is thought to have contributed to the deaths of dozens of ringed seals along Alaska’s Arctic coast. Scores more are sickened, some so ill that skin lesions bleed when touched. The animals are an important subsistence food, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed listing them as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In July, biologists with the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management began receiving reports of ringed seals hauled out on beaches, an unusual behavior since the animals usually prefer the water or ice. Since then, they’ve found at least 100 seals with telltale mangy hair and skin lesions, mostly while traveling by four-wheeler along 30 miles of Beaufort and Chukchi sea coastline outside Barrow. At least 46 of those seals have been found dead, and experts aren’t sure if the disease is killing them or if other infections and polar bears are proving fatal once the seals become feeble. “Right now we’re leaning toward it being a virus, and that could weaken their immune system,” said Jason Herreman, a borough wildlife biologist studying seals and polar bears. The Department of Wildlife Management has never documented a similar outbreak in the North Slope region, Herreman said. Scientists don’t know the scope of the problem because since ringed seals are difficult to track and haven’t been counted for decades. Hundreds of thousands are thought to live in the region.
Reports of nearly 150 other seals with the illness have come in from villages outside Barrow, population 4,200, as well as from Chukotka, Russia, and Tuktoyuktak, a village on the northwestern corner of Canada, Herreman said. North Slope biologists are trying to determine the magnitude of the problem in the other countries, he said. Borough biologists have sent numerous tissue samples, from dead seals and others still alive, to laboratories around…
Report Comment
country. Still, they have no answer. “When you’re dealing with a pathogen and you don’t know what it is, even whether it’s bacterial or virus, it takes a lot of work to narrow it down and isolate it,” Herreman said. “But I’m a little surprised they haven’t come up with something yet.” The Northwest Arctic Borough has also posted a notice on its website warning people to watch for sick seals in Northwest Alaska villages. Enoch Shiedt, natural resource coordinator for the Maniilaq Association in Kotzebue, said he’s received a few reports of sluggish seals hauled out on beaches this summer. But he hasn’t been able to confirm the sightings. One sighting occurred on the Kotzebue waterfront several weeks ago, but by the time he arrived, the seal had been rolled back into the water and was gone. He’s concerned the illness will spread up the food chain, affecting other animals and hunters near Kotzebue Sound.
“I’m scared they might pass it on one way or another and the whole ocean could be affected,” Shiedt said. Folks in the Barrow region also are worried. Many of the Slope’s Inupiat residents are about to begin hunting for seals, and some are wondering if they are safe to eat, Herreman said. The wildlife department has posted fliers around the borough — titled Natchiq On Our Beach. Natchiq means ringed seal in the Inupiaq language. The borough has also gone on the radio, asking villagers to report sightings of marine mammals that appear to be weak. The wildlife department is advising hunters to notify it of any sick seals they harvest and, if they choose to eat them, to cook the meat thoroughly. The animals don’t appear to be ailing from stress-related causes, something people might suspect because climate change has reduced the ice habitat that ringed seals normally prefer, Herreman said. Seals also don’t appear to be suffering from a lack of food. “They are all showing classic symptoms of disease,” he said.
Report Comment
Last of 3 river-swimming Alaska whales found dead
October 17, 2011
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/1242/415/
One of the other dead wales was found to be pregnant !
Report Comment
The sickest ones don’t move much on the beaches and they have blisters or wounds that bleed easily, including around the nose, eyes and especially the rear flippers. Others have lost much of their hair. “They’re not deathly skinny. It’s not like they’re dying from malnutrition. But they’re not in great body condition,” he said. The reports haven’t let up. “I just went out this morning and I saw a seal that died last night,” Herreman said Wednesday afternoon. “It was frozen and the seagulls had gotten to it,” he said. Weakened seals are susceptible to predator attacks. Large numbers of polar bears have been gathering at Kaktovik, east of Barrow near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and some have been eating hauled-out ringed seals there, he said. Some sick seals have survived weeks with the illness. Scientists also don’t know how pervasive the illness is, since even healthy ringed seals are difficult to track and census. Ringed seal numbers aren’t well documented. A study done in the 1980s estimated about 250,000 ringed seals hauled out on northern Alaska’s shore-fast ice during the spring. Many more are thought to live farther out in the pack ice. But those estimates are very rough, Herreman cautioned. The worldwide population has been estimated at 4-6 million, he said.
Report Comment
Deaths of 94 harbor seals alarm officials, New England54
October 15, 2011
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/1237/312/
Report Comment
@xdrfox
An update on this situ..
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_update_read&edis_id=BH-20111013-32661-USA&uid=11572
Report Comment
Heart of the Rose,
Wonder IF they are scanning them with radiation detectors ?
We will never know until someone other then gov. does a read, maybe get to the truth since the gov. has said it is doing little or nothing for detection or releasing results !
Report Comment
@xdrfox…Perhaps.. Palin will come out of la-la land and do something about it…if you believe that ..I’m a monkey’s uncle….lol
Report Comment
You mean a monkey’s Aunt ?
Report Comment
Not to forget the whales that have washed up in the same area in the same time period !
Report Comment
Irradiated plankton may have reached Thailand months ago ?
Green Turtles Stranded on Pattaya Beach, And a LOT of GARBAGE, from Japans Disaster ??
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/838/124/
Report Comment
As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.
Report Comment
Hi Spock…As a matter of cosmic history Humans have always been illogical.
Report Comment
Hello,
Im not really familiar with effects of radiation or what bequerals are. Wife and I flew through Tokyo Narita to get to Seoul. Our layover lasted about 5 hrs and we did have some seafood with our meal. Should we be concerned?
Report Comment
depends mainly on the levels of radiation in said food.
In some cases you can recieve a lethal dose (overdose) in a single breath. In others a minimal dose that have no true health effect.
The main point is to limit your exposure.
Only time will tell if you have consumed a harmful dose of radiation. however you can take calcium and magnesium to counter the potential damages. Also zeolite, ect.
You cant take back the past, so I would not worry too much over it. Just take “practical precaution”. And in the future limit your exposure especially in light of seafood, and traveling near japan.
There is an invisible danger.
But really I wouldn’t beat yourself up over it.
Unless you can establish a direct radiation level from the food and analyze its content. It is going to be very difficult to answer your question. If you are worried, then take minimal precaution. Key word minimal. I doubt that you ate a fish from near the reactors, (though I could be wrong). I feel that most companies would be reluctant to work in that area.
I should note that the contamination is in no way localized. So theoretically The entire ocean is now contaminative. But to that extent, the amount of fish you likely ate was in too small a quantity to cause extensive damages to your cells.
|You could ask the restaurant for a sample of the menu’d item and have it analyzed if you are experiencing any major health problems after eating the fish. But in my opinion you would be wasting time and money. (especially in light of the fact that you already ingested the item). To which at this point there would be little you could do to reverse the situation.
Report Comment
Basically if you are experiencing symptoms of radiation poisoning than consult a physician.
But I wouldn’t be too worried unless you are indeed noticing a significant difference to your health…
You can easily google “symptoms of radiation poisoning”, to check, if you are a candidate to an over exposure.
It wouldn’t hurt to check for similarities between you and these symptoms. For you and your wife as well.
Report Comment
Thank you so much for your information. I remember seeing the explosions of the buildings last spring, but thought it was taken care of long ago. Travelers to that part of the world are vulnerable and should be informed.
Is So, Korea in trouble? I have some dear friends in Kang Dong. None of them have ever mentioned anything about this.
Report Comment
In theory the entire planet is experiencing higher than normal background levels of radiation.
As early as april 1st 2011 the plume had traveled from japan all the way around the globe and (Back to japan).
So the answer is technically yes, korea has a higher level than ‘normal background radiation level’.
Until further data becomes published, with more adequate testing performed I would advise all citizens of all nations to be on alert and minimize their exposure.
I would suggest that most people attempt to Minimize their beef and milk intake, as well as minimizing their consumptions of outdoor food produce, while we wait for more sufficient data to come to light…
Also try to avoid, rain, fog, and snow. As radiation is lighter than air particulate, that attaches its self to the water molecules that are released during these events.
Report Comment
Korea radiation message board:
http://knowlive.net/forum_topics.asp?FID=13 (in Korean)
Report Comment
I posted a story on So, Korea and Japan article having a summit ? on farming related about 2 weeks ago on a discussion thread !
Report Comment
Of course that was all taken care of months ago – want some more yellowtail?
Report Comment
Have to wonder if ???
3500 Prions Seabirds Found Dead west coast New Zealand
July 14, 2011
http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/818/649/
Report Comment
The ocean has been the least talked about of the things we need to be paying attention to. Yet, it is, quite possibly, will become the worst aspect of these meltdowns.
“I too am part of that ocean, my love—we are not so much separated;
Behold the great rondure—the cohesion of all, how perfect!” – Walt Whitman
It WAS perfect, until greed and humans and lies fouled it up.
NEVER FORGET… “Your accessed risk is very low” and “those levels of radiation are of no concern”.
Report Comment
Thanks Tacomagroove & Bobby1,
Feels like Im out of the loop on this subject. Will check site again. Good info & people who care.
Report Comment
Sea food is OVER!
Balanced diet or not, I won’t be eating fish anymore. This is just too big. Everyday it grows. I shudder to think at what they’re not telling us.
Report Comment
Fish are also caught and ground up dried to put in other animal feeds such as chicken, pigs/hogs, cattle and more !!
: |
Report Comment
xdrfox, very good point.
*B&B went veggie some 23 years ago
Report Comment
DannieJ,
They’re not telling us that these things will continue, irradiation will also and accumulation will also continue everywhere ! “Everywhere”
Report Comment
The Food in the US and some other Countries
is always “poisoned” by Radioactivity!
Check and do a further Research about this Topico:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation
Low dose applications (up to 1 kGy)
Sprout inhibition in bulbs and tubers 0.03-0.15 kGy
Delay in fruit ripening 0.25-0.75 kGy
Insect disinfestation including quarantine treatment and elimination of food borne parasites 0.07-1.00 kGy
Medium dose applications (1 kGy to 10 kGy)
Reduction of spoilage microbes to prolong shelf-life of meat, poultry and seafoods under refrigeration 1.50–3.00 kGy
Reduction of pathogenic microbes in fresh and frozen meat, poultry and seafoods 3.00–7.00 kGy
Reducing the number of microorganisms in spices to improve hygienic quality 10.00 kGy
High dose applications (above 10 kGy)
Sterilization of packaged meat, poultry, and their products that are shelf stable without refrigeration 25.00-70.00 kGy
Sterilization of Hospital diets 25.00-70.00 kGy
Product improvement as increased juice yield or improved re-hydration
We need to observe this
and not hiding somewhere with “Can’s” of Tuna
which also gives you a lot of harmful Metals!
Report Comment
Irradiating food with Cobalt-60 or Cesium-137
List of foods that could be irradiated (look for “radura” irradiated label)
***spices, poultry, ground beef, strawberries, dried vegetables, white potatoes, papaya, spinach, iceburg lettuce, wheat, “onions, garlic, ginger root, chestnut,” pork, seafood, sausage, “prepared meals, hospital diets,” shell eggs, seeds, herb teas, tropical fruits imported to the US (dragon fruit, coconuts, longan, mango, mangosteen, pineapple, rambuten)…
Health effects of irradiated food:
* animals had “significant weight loss and reproductive defects”
* children: [...]“…five malnourished children in India, fed with 0.75kGy irradiated wheat.” “…after only four weeks four of them had developed gross chromosomal abnormality (polyploidy, abnormally large multiplication rate) in their bone marrow cells. It returned to normal 26 weeks after the irradiated wheat was removed from their diet.”
* “Lipid peroxidation caused by free radicals”
* “converts nitrates to nitrites”
http://www.healthknot.com/irradiated_foods_fda.html
* create free radicals
* “combine with existing chemicals (like pesticides)…to form new chemicals” such as “benzene, formaldehyde, lipid peroxides”
* “…lose 5%-80%” of vitamins “A, C, E, K and B complex.”
* “…damages natural digestive enzymes found in raw foods.”
http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/irradfact.cfm
Report Comment
Greenpeace was always on the front lines in the battle against Japanese Whaling ships, even RAMMING them. Then there is (was) the overharvesting of Bluefin tuna for sushi to the very edge of extinction, etc. etc.
Cut to: a wide shot of a Huge tidal wave smashing into thousands of Japanese boats, fishing docks wiped out, bodies floating out to sea…
To me, the Japanese culture is… haunting.
A perfect clash of commune-ity ism and capital ism, a dichotomy unreconciled in a brilliant collective unconsciousness, causing mass depression and many, many suicides.
How very bizzare… Hiroshima, Nagasaki— and now Fukushima.
In my opinion, Japan was the most advanced civilization on the planet. The focal point of hope for a technology-based world. But there was always an underlying feeling that they had traded something of their essence away…
This does not bode well for the rest of us that haven’t yet paid our dues.
Report Comment
+1 very intersting thoughts you inspire
Report Comment
What about marine salt? I get marine salt here in Argentina with salt from the coast of Chile. The latest batch is all from January. I think the next batch will be post-Fukushima. Will marine salt from the south Pacific be safe?
Report Comment