- "The residents of Japan have good cause to mistrust
the media, TEPCO officials, and members of their government when it comes
to assurances about radiation levels, plutonium dispersal, and the related
health risks. Americans also have good cause to mistrust these same sort
of assurances issued to American residents." --Lucas W. Hixson, April
23, 2011
-
- Over the past few weeks, Japan, the US, and EU all have
issued public statements that confirm the total disregard for safety, protection,
and well being of their citizens. In their Orwellian rhetoric, this means
harm is the order of the day. The most immediate radiation threats from
Fukushima's on-going nuclear nightmare are to all citizens throughout Japan.
From the beginning, on March 11, there was no serious evacuation plan.
The original 10-mile Fukushima evacuation was worthless. On April 26, the
25th anniversary of Chernobyl's nuclear catastrophe, Physicians for Social
Responsibility [PSR], "underscored the ongoing health risks of nuclear
energy to the public. [a] clear reminder that standard evacuation zones
cannot protect the public from a nuclear accident."(1)
-
- PSR also has released "a new interactive Evacuation
Zone Map" to give us a clear picture of continuing nuclear dangers.
CK THIS SITE!! In the US, more than one-third of the population (111 million)
lives within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor [many are old and have serious
problems, such as Vermont Yankee; 13 are the same kind as at Fukushima].
"Given the consequences of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters;
PSR is calling for a major reassessment of contingency plans for nuclear
accidents, as well as a full and fair accounting of the data on the impact
on public health and the environment."(2) This reassessment is extremely
important. Realistically, however, how many years will it take to implement
long-overdue REAL emergency plans, when almost nothing was done between
Chernobyl's nuclear catastrophe and Fukushima? We don't have years any
more.
-
- There is no Precautionary Principle in this wrecked scenario.
How many more people will develop radiation-induced cancer or die, while
they're still working on implementing something? What devastating radioactive
harm will come to our children and grandchildren, while officials "debate"
what should be done? What kind of continuous delaying propaganda tactics
will the nuclear industry pull?
-
- Reactor Workers
-
- As of now, there has been one cover-up after another,
putting everyone in danger. So, the reactor's workers were the first to
die. Actual numbers of dead clean-up(sic) workers haven't been reported
yet. Recruiting ads (not done by TEPCO, but by a maintenance company) for
temporary workers do not warn potential employees of any possible nuclear
dangers on the job. By sub-contracting this hazardous labor, costs are
brought down, and profits soar. Further, "TEPCO and other power companies
have always refused to disclose the list of subcontractors."(3) Without
any public disclosure or accountability, no one knows who is doing what.
There are about 700 workers at Fukushima's radioactive site. At a daily
rate of about US$122, this is hardly worth getting cancer and dying. "TEPCO
and NISA [Nuclear and Industrial Safety Industry] keep diffusing their
usual propaganda to minimized the radiation risks."(4)
-
- These temporary contract day workers, "doing the
most dirty and dangerous jobs in the nuclear plants[and] who fall ill,
will not even appear in the statistics. What is clear is that the contract
laborers are routinely exposed to the highest level of radiation."(5)
In addition, this crisis is also exacerbated by two other issues: Firstly,
there is a complicated procedure for any temporary workers "who need
to apply for occupational hazard compensation."(6) Secondly, doses
for radiation exposure have changed and for the worse. On March 14, the
Japanese industry of Health and Labor raised "the maximum [radiation]
dose for workers to 250 mSv [milli Sieverts] a year" an increase in
exposure from the previous 100 mSv.(7) These new figures are also drastically
higher than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection's
guidelines stipulating a maximum of 20 mSv a year."(8) In either case,
it is obvious that deliberately manipulating exposure levels, to a mostly
uninformed public, only increases our perils. www.activistpost.com/2011/04/eu-follows-epa-raises-acceptable.html
-
- Noted nuclear radiation physician Dr. Helen Caldicott
has repeatedly said there is NO SAFE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE. Last week, in an
online article, she wrote:
-
- "The grave effects of internal emitters are of the
most profound concern at Fukushima -as indeed they continue to be at Chernobyl.
It is erroneous and misleading to use the term 'acceptable levels of external
radiation' in assessing internal radiation doses. To do so is to propagate
inaccuracies and to mislead the public worldwide and journalists who are
seeking the truth about radiation's hazards."(9)
-
- What is at risk, to the nuclear industry, is not our
lives. The risk issues for them are their profits and the future of nuclear
energy. We live at a time devoid of ethics; so the corporations involved
will do anything to keep it going, even sacrifice our lives for their greed.
-
- Prof. Jobin, also noted that this expansion of allowable
radiation dosages may "perhapslimit the number of possible applications
for recognition of occupation disease."(10) Corporate accountability
is not part of this broken and criminal system. This is a decades-long
theme-and-variations: Anything they can get away with they do. Governments
comply. A rare exception is University of Tokyo professor Toshiso Kosako.
He was hired in March as nuclear safety advisor to the Japanese government.
He resigned last Friday April 29, saying: "the prime minister's office
and agencies within the government 'have ignored the laws.'"(11)
-
- Conditions at Fukushima, according to Prof. Jobin, are
atrocious. A TEPCO employee described "the extremely difficult conditions
for intervention [and safety] and the patched together systems they are
compelled to use to protect themselves, like wrapping themselves in plastic
bags [a worthless attempt], for lack of appropriate protective suits."(12)
This is exactly the same corporate modus operandi that BP used in hiring
temporary workers throughout the oil-rig catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.
Workers there had little-to-no protective gear while they cleaned up deadly
dispersants; and reporters were either kept away from clean-up sites or
threatened if they reported what was actually happening. While BP was barely
protecting temporary workers it hired [many of whom are now critically
ill or have died], it continues to make repulsive, yet record corporate
profits. One year after the Gulf disaster, "BP posted a first-quarter
[2011] profit of $7.1 billion, an increase of 17 percent."(13)
-
- Evacuation & Radiation Exposure
-
- Real evacuation for millions of Japanese has never happened.
Japanese children, elders, and pregnant women are the most vulnerable.
How many women have already had miscarriages or given birth to stillborns,
or those with serious deformities? How many women who are still in their
first or second trimester of pregnancy will still have to face this kind
of life-changing tragedy? There are no mainstream media reports of critical
nuclear reproductive dangers. For decades, the media has been silent. The
only reports of extreme and tragic birth deformities usually stay in obscure
medical journals. The public's right to know about these environmental
hazards that affect all our lives never figures into any governmental policy
equation.
-
- This also goes for all of us in North America, as the
onslaught of invisible ionizing radiation is hitting us 24/7 and we, too,
are in danger. Conveniently, EPA's monitoring systems were not working,
or REAL daily radiation levels were not reported. There is always some
excuse. The exceptions are the following radiation websites. As we have
long-term radiation exposure, they are worth posting again:
-
- http://transport.nilu.no/browser/fpv_fuku?fpp=conccol_Xe-133_;region=NH
-
- and www.radiationnetwork.com
-
- If you live anywhere near the Los Angeles, CA, area,
here is another monitoring site: www.ustream.tv/channel/live-radiation-monitoring-from-west-la
-
- These sites continue to be very valuable so we know our
daily radiation risks. This is a cumulative, but invisible, radiation hazard
that goes into our bodies. There also have been numerous reports in alternative
news of high rates of Cesium-137 (found in milk, from cattle grazing on
radioactive land), Iodine-131 (goes into the thyroid); and Strontium-90
(goes into our bones and teeth). "It is a very complex microscopic
assault on living tissue."(14)
-
- Dr. Caldicott continues to remind us all that we cannot
"confuse the effects of external and internal [nuclear] radiation."(15)
External radiation is what happened when the US dropped bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. Internal radiation is what is happening now where radioactive
elements continue to enter our bodies: through the air we breathe; and
eating from an already highly contaminated food chain; and what is absorbed
though our skin [the largest organ in our bodies]. We are now exposed to
all of these different avenues of radioactive contamination. We are at
the top, as it bio-accumulates up the food chain. As it enters
-
- "the body, these elements - called internal emitters
- migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain,
continuously irradiating small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha,
beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years often induce cancer. Further,
many remain radioactive in the environment for long periods, posing danger
for future generations. The grave effects of internal emitters are of the
most profound concern at Fukushima -as indeed they continue to be at Chernobyl.
It is erroneous and misleading to use the term 'acceptable levels of external
radiation'' in assessing internal radiation doses. To do so is to propagate
inaccuracies and to mislead the public worldwide and journalists who are
seeking the truth about radiation's hazards." (16)
-
- In addition, there has been little reporting on the repercussions
of the deadly nature of the MOX [mixed oxide] plutonium releases from the
spent fuel rods stored on this site for 40 years. "According to the
Nuclear Information Resource Center (NIRS), this plutonium-uranium fuel
mixture is far more dangerous than typical enriched uranium [as] a single
milligram (mg) of MOX is as deadly as 2,000,000 mg of normal enriched uranium."(17)
-
- Plutonium-239 has a radioactive half-life of 24,000 years,
while Uranium-235's half-life is 700-million years. Multiply that by the
600,000 spent fuel rods at Fukushima's Unit 3 Reactor (no longer under
45-feet of water to keep them cool). Once there wasn't any more cooling
water, fusion took place and the destruction of "unit 3 Reactor was
the cause of the massive hydrogen explosion."(18)
-
- As Lucas Hixson reported after looking at the hi-resolution
photos of Unit 3: "The top of the primary containment vessel, as well
as the top of the reactor itself, is simply GONE. Even to a layperson,
it is obvious that this means that the huge hydrogen explosion at unit
3 must have occurred in the reactor itself, and that the entire top of
the reactor containment vessel was obliterated, ejecting the contents of
the core -as well as the spent fuel pool- into the atmosphere. This means,
obviously, that significant quantities of plutonium were released, and
that the release of radiation from unit 3 alone must be many times higher
than has been admitted for the entire complex --Chernobyl pales in comparison.
It is apparent that Tepco, the NRC, and the Japanese and American government
officials, among others, are participating in a cover-up of the extent
and severity of this disaster. This almost certainly applies to the blandly
misleading assurances about the harmlessness of the fallout on US soil.
The whistle must be blown, loud and clear."(19)
-
- On May 3, another fire also has broken out at Fukushima's
Reactor Unit 4, and reported: http://lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/fukushima-daiichi-reactor-4-fire-may-3-2011
There is no containment, and this reactor has both plutonium and uranium:
www.scribd.com/doc/50823093/Another-Fire-breaks-out-at-Fukushima-
- Daiichi-Reactor-Unit-4-This-one-has-Plutonium-Uranium-too-there-is-no-containment-area
-
- None of this is fixable.
-
- What has been the typical agency response? On April 21,
the FDA refused to test Alaska fish for radiation. Both the ocean and air
currents coming from Japan are both highly radioactive as they continue
to travel around the globe wrecking invisible havoc. No one is safe, while
the collusion continues between malfeasant corporate decisions and those
officials in charge. None of this is any accident. This is planned incompetence
for massive criminal cover-ups.
-
- Despite finding high doses of radiation in our water,
soil, milk, and fruits, radiation dose exposure levels have also been increased
for both the Japanese and US populations. On May 2, "furious parents
in Fukushimadelivered a bag of radioactive playground earth to educational
officials in protests" to government changes in radiation exposure.(20)
-
- According to these official changes, "children can
now be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously permissible."(21)
The accompanying photo to this article shows a young schoolgirl wearing
a face mask. These paper masks are useless against radiation exposure.
Despite high-radiation levels, schools will remain open. "It is estimated
than 75 percent of Fukushima's schools may have radiation levels above
the old safety level of 1 mSv."(22) Children, who are more vulnerable
to cancer and numerous kinds of reproductive damage, will continue to be
at more extreme risk. Nonetheless, parents' concerns continue to be ignored.
-
- America has already been contaminated with an assortment
of Dante's Inferno of radioactive isotopes. Instead of warning us about
exposure dangers, more deception has been handed to us. Both the EU and
US have raised "acceptable" radiation levels for food. In the
US, Congressional approval is not legally required. So, "the [EPA's]
new standards would result in a 'nearly 1,000-fold increase for exposure
to Strontium-90, a 3,000 to 100,000-fold hike for exposure to Iodine-131,
and an almost 25,000 rise for exposure to radioactive Nickel-63' in drinking
water."(23)
-
- According to corrupt officials, it is okay for all of
us to eat radioactive contaminated food, day in and day out. Since nothing
is accurately tracked, when cancer rates begin to inevitably soar, no one
will ever be held accountable. Can we connect the dots? This is all about
long-term injury. We cannot trust any official to tell us the truth about
chronic radiation exposure. Historically, we never could.
-
- ON March 25, the EU ordinance [#297/22011] implemented
these increased exposures to radiation. Instead of banning all food imported
from Japan, risks are now double for anyone foolish enough to even consider
buying radioactive food. For example, exposure to both Cesium-134 and Cesium-137
have now doubled, including baby foods and formula.
-
- The fact that both the US and EU raised radiation levels
is surely not co-incidental. Raising the maximum radiation exposure doses
for humans and also for our entire food supply is another way that we are
being deliberately duped. It isn't bad enough that the corporate-controlled
media lies; it is also pervasive throughout agencies and governments. Manipulating
figures or data and juggling toxic exposure levels are more indications
that our lives count for nothing. The entire globe continues to be heavily
contaminated by on-going radiation levels from Fukushima, from the 600,000
spent fuel rods, the meltdowns of the reactors and release of radioactive
elements, and dumping of 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific
Ocean. When are we going to wake up collectively and really see through
their lies and deceit? When will we really understand the massive harm
to which they continue to subject us? When are we going to hold them accountable?
-
- ******** NOTES: 1. "Physicians for Social Responsibility
Cites Flawed Evacuation Zones, Nuclear's Health Risk on Chernobyl Anniversary."
April 26, 2011: www.psr.org/news-events/press-releases/psr-cites-flawed-evacuation-zones-nuclears-health-risks.html
-
- 2. Ibid.
-
- 3. Prof. Paul Jobin. "Dying for TEPCO? Fukushima's
Nuclear Contract Workers." April 29, 2011: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24543
-
- 4. Jobin, ibid.
-
- 5. Jobin, ibid.
-
- 6. Jobin, ibid.
-
- 7. Jobin, ibid.
-
- 8. Jobin, ibid.
-
- 9. Dr. Helen Caldicott. "Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists
Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation. Nuclear Industry's Vociferous Attacks
on its Critics." Global Research. April 30, 2011: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24563
-
- 10. Jobin, op. cit.
-
- 11. William Sposato. "Nuclear Advisor Quits Over
Handling of Crisis.'" Wall Street Journal. April 30, 2011: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567404576293201211871250.html
-
- 12. Jobin, op. cit.
-
- 13. Patrick Martin. "Oil Bosses Rake In Record Profits
As US Economy Stalls." April 29, 2011: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24555]
-
- 14. Ace Hoffman. "Understanding Becquerels, Sieverts,
Roentgens, Etc." April 21, 2011: www.rense.com/general93/uner.htm
-
- 15. Dr. Caldicott, see ref. #9.
-
- 16. Dr. Caldicott, ibid.
-
- 17. Ethan A. Huff. "MOX plutonium fuel used in Fukushima's
Unit 3 reactor two million times more deadly than enriched uranium."
Natural News. March 18, 2011: www.naturalnews.com/031736_plutonium_enriched_uranium.html]
-
- 18. Lucas Whitefield Hixson. "Hi-res photographic
proof reactor core exploded at unit 3." April 23, 2011: https://lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/hi-res-photographic-proof-reactor-core-exploded-unit-3-0
-
- 19. Hixson, ibid.
-
- 20. Jonathan Watts. "Fukushima parents dish the
dirt in protests over radiation levels." London. The Guardian. May
2, 2011: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/parents-revolt-radiation-levels
-
- 21. Watts, ibid.
-
- 22. Watts, ibid.
-
- 23. Brandon Turbeville. "America and EU Agree: Raise
Radiation Levels for Food." Activist Post. April 5, 2011: www.activistpost.com/2011/04/eu-follows-epa-raises-acceptable.html
********* Educator and environmental writer Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri
is the author of the highly acclaimed book, "The Uterine Crisis."
London's "The Ecologist" calls this book "an inspiration."
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