Remember when, in the movie Jaws, the local dignitaries did not want to warn vacationers that there was a man-eating great white shark in their waters for fear that they’d lose out on their summer tourism dollars? Do you remember when Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that he had to balance punishing bad behavior on Wall Street against causing economic hardship for the American people?
When there is an economic or commercial reason not warn the public about health concerns, or to let criminals go unpunished, that is quite often what happens. So, the public can be forgiven for being highly skeptical that they are getting the full truth about the consequences and risks associated with the Fukushima radioactive fallout. The Obama administration hasn’t been pro-active about giving any information out, and conspiracy theories and worst-case scenarios have proliferated.
It’s nice to be reassured that the fallout that reaches the West Coast will present virtually no health risk, but we ought to be told what will present a health risk. Is Tuna caught in Japanese fishing waters and sold here as sushi safe? Are the people assuring us that it is truly independent? Certainly, there can’t be no health risks for Americans associated with Fukushima. So, why don’t we know what they are?
Radiation is scary, so this subject is particularly vulnerable to panic and overreaction. But, for exactly that reason, there should be more communication and some acknowledgment that you can’t have an ongoing meltdown on the scale of Fukushima without it having a some detrimental effects here in America.
I have been fearfully following Fukushima and the fallout from their lies…There seems to be a secondary effect of helping to keep dialog from the public about our own Nuclear Disasters Waiting to Happen…Hanford??? Leaking water…and there was an earthquake off the California coast yesterday, El Diablo sits on a fault line, and has been reported to have severe deficiencies by our own Nuke Inspectors…Have you heard anything??? Our nukes are disintegrating, our government has been lax and/or corrupt in the overall permitting processes for the same type of reactors in Japan…The USS Ronald Reagan is in San Diego glowing from it’s brush with Fukushima…New Mexico??? and this latest leak…this is one Genie that will not be put back in the bottle nor be controlled…
I check here for information…I have found it to be fairly accurate…but as with any warning about “stuff” on the internet take a moment to look closely and make your own decision…
http://fukushimaupdate.com/
There is actual science being done on the effects of Fukushima radiation.
Marine biologists, for example, have been monitoring the Fukushima radiation in bluefin tuna ever since the accident happened. Bluefin tuna regularly make the trip between here and Japan. There IS radiation from Fukushima in them. It has never been remotely enough to harm either animals or humans and it has been steadily diminishing, but it IS there, at about 2 parts in 10,000 (<.002). That means roughly that 1 part in 5,000 of the radiation bits are from Fukushima, and the other 4,999 parts of the radiation are already there naturally (lots of natural radiation in the ocean). Here’s one study: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/30/1221834110.full.pdf
I dunno why our esteemed media has not been telling us about the actual science being done on this issue. Perhaps because it isn’t alarmist? Oh, also, they’ve been monitoring the radiation in the air from Fukushima in San Francisco since about four days after the accident. It has never even approached the level of radiation that hit San Francisco from Chernobyl.
This subject has been at the level of an Alex Jones conspiracy theory for a couple of years now and sadly, it’s the progressive side that appears to fall for it. I’m convinced it’s because it fits the narrative of the anti-nuke movement. People don’t want to see the real science. They want emotion and confirmation of their existing beliefs.
It truly WAS a horrendous accident. It just isn’t the end of the freaking world (unlike climate change).
There are things that scientists don’t anticipate. But, insofar as the risks are low or non-existent, that should be explained without ignoring whatever risk is known to exist or that could develop.
The Japanese are doing a fairly good job at cleanup compared to Chernobyl. I completely agree that the science on the environmental effects is being done, and so far the effects are very small; people just need to go and look at the science if they are interested, instead of spreading fear based on ignorance.
Not quite as sanguine about the ongoing radiation crisis.
I don’t think Tepco and the Japanese govt have much credibility left, not after the way they severely underplayed the danger initially and not after 3 years when the situation is not yet under control.
Didn’t the Soviets act rather quickly to enclose their damaged reactor (albeit giving a death sentence to those workers) in a concrete dome? Yet the Japanese are still trying to figure out how to achieve containment, as I understand.
Today on Democracy Now! an ex Japanese PM spoke out about the ongoing Fukushima crisis and came out against nuclear power.
Yes, the soviets enclosed the core (they should have had a containment dome in the first place!) but never cleaned up the surrounding area, which the Japanese are doing.
“It truly WAS a horrendous accident. It just isn’t the end of the freaking world (unlike climate change).”
Can I get an amen? AMEN! This is why I support nuclear power. It’s certainly less uncertain than fracking our way to prosperity…
Thorium reactors are safe.
All current nuclear reactors are not.
If a Coronal Mass Ejection slammed into the earth knocking out most satellites and electrical power on earth, all of those “safe” nuclear reactors would no longer be safe.
Christine Todd Whitman after 9-11 The air is safe to breath
Golf oil spill Swimming in oily water should pose minimal concern if washed off thoroughly immediately after,” said Mark Ryan of the Louisiana Poison Control Center. “Of course, we would not recommend swimming in the water that you know has oil in it.”
Where is Fukushima on the Chernobyl release scale? Worse?
There doesn’t seem to be too much interest or appetite for governments across the entire Pacific to release full information about the spreading radiation, and it certainly is spreading. It’s a global news story and news market. So who’s actually covering it and informing their citizens about it?
Nuclear power seems just another dangerous aspect of modern life that our elites have decided we don’t need to worry our little heads over. Want your nice electricity? Then shut up. Mistakes happen.
Finally, dropping a curtain of quiet over Fukushima is consistent with most environmental catastrophes arising from energy exploitation, development and provision. Does anyone think they ever saw the full story of the inconceivably massive BP oil spill in the Gulf? There our gub’mint sided with BP in keeping what could be determined out of the information stream. News outlets were restricted from optimum vantage points, as I recall. The coordinated corporate-governmental goal seemed calculated to ensure that the (mostly oblivious) public was given no basis for (justifiable) outrage. To make sure there was no backlash as a result of BigOil’s environmental calamity and its effects.
Huge amounts of some mystery fluid(s) (which supposedly would “break up” the oil) were released into the Gulf by BP. The regulatory state had no understanding of what was even in the fluids, as I remember. Where’s the longer haul surveillance of that? How “safe” is Gulf seafood, and who is the public to believe, given what seems the very strong sweep-under-the-rug attitude of the fossil fuel industry (certainly) and the flat-on-its-back “regulatory” state? “No cause for concern” seems the message no matter how massive the environmental calamity may be.
Since the American electorate has no actual concerns about the environment and will countenance no sacrifices however slight to protect it, and since the energy plutocrats are of course intent on making their profits in any way possible, it’s not really a huge surprise that the now-hapless federal gub’mint adopts a see-no-evil attitude, nor that these things don’t make the corporate “news” agenda. Frack away, for tomorrow (someone else) dies…
Last I checked on this a few months back, several name scientists were expressing great concern about short- and long-term radiation exposure from Fukushima, there and over here. That was enough to get my attention.
And with personal and family history of cancer, I consider it prudent to take precautions. So, no sushi, no fish whatsoever from the N. Pacific, continue not to eat tuna. Taking two supplements to strengthen body’s defenses, one of them rather pricey.
Meanwhile, until I hear of some scientific consensus (similar to global warming/climate change) from a quorum of experts decisively downplaying the radiation threat, I’d rather act as if the threat exists.
Nature will find a way to punish people who throw Nuclear bombs on defenseless women and children.
I have no doubt the Japanese government has minimized (or, in other words, lied about) radiation exposure in Japan. However, it makes no sense that there’s any danger in the United States except from seafood exports. People who think radioactive water is washing up on the west coast do not understand basic science. There’s an entire ocean between there and here. That’s a lot of dilution. I do not believe the air born releases were anywhere close to as significant as Chernobyl.
Just a heads-up.
Fukishima is not contained and the situation is still critical.
Carry on.
ok..thanks all
Kaos Anak