Seaborne Cesium 134, a radioactive isotope released by the 2011 Fukushima disaster, has been detected on the US’ Pacific coast for the first time by independent researchers.
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a crowd-funded team of scientists, announced yesterday that they had detected, for the first time, seaborne cesium 134 in seawater on the shores of Tillamook Bay in Oregon. The group has been monitoring the waterborne radiation as it extends from Fukushima across the Pacific for years. According to WHOI as well as other scientists, cesium 134, a dangerous and carcinogenic radioactive isotope, could only have originated from the Fukushima disaster due to its short half-life, or rate of decay.
Fishermen in the US Northwest and Alaska have recently noticed an increase in fish with cancerous tumors and growths Credit – LEO Alaska
The samples themselves contained 0.3 becquerels/m3 of the isotope, a relatively small amount that some researchers and corporate media outlets say poses “no risk to humans or the environment.” However, there is no such thing as “safe” amounts of radiation, which is particularly true of radioactive cesium as it imitates potassium within the body. Japanese citizens were also told there was nothing to worry about, despite the fact that cancer rates have spiked since the incident. The real and unstated danger here is that of bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation refers to the gradual build-up over time of chemicals in an organism, absorbing the substance at a faster rate than it is excreted. Now, that Fukushima radiation has reached the US, those living on the West Coast or eating fish from that region could be at risk if they consume radioactive water or fish as all consumed cesium would remain in their body, continuously causing damage until it is excreted. Children are said to be especially at risk. Another reason why there is cause for concern is that these samples were actually collected in January 2016 and not tested until recently, suggesting that landfall may have happened earlier than thought. This, in turn, would also mean that higher levels of cesium as more of Fukushima’s radiation has made contact with Western coastal shores in the months since as researchers have said that radiation will not “peak” until well after the plume’s initial landfall.
No matter how often the Japanese government, TEPCO, or the corporate media say that radiation from Fukushima is nothing to worry, ignoring a problem does not make it go away. The world’s oceans, particularly the Pacific Ocean, are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis as mass die-offs of fish and coral are signaling that something is horribly wrong. These trends, combined with the devastating effects of over-fishing, led the World Wildlife Fund to recently warn that all marine life could die out before the year 2050, less than forty years from now. It is incredible that a nuclear disaster that has leaked 300 tons of radioactive water into the ocean every day for the last five years could have no effect on the massive environmental crisis unfolding before our eyes. Until Fukushima’s consequences are acknowledged and treated with the concern they clearly merit, we will continue to be unable to understand the true scope of the problem.
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First photo credit – IOP Science
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When I share this devastating news about Fukashima with family and friends they get angry at me. I’m treated like I’m crazy, without mainstream media recognition of this disaster I’m afraid no one will believe the dangers and people will get sick from continuing to swim in the ocean and eat the fish of the Pacific Ocean.
If the ocean is dead by 2050, and knowing that the majority of our oxygen is a by-product of ocean dynamics – is this the end of human existence?? Will the earth be any more liveable than planets such as Mars?
Well of course, when everyone actually cares it will be too late. Maybe we humans deserve this fate due to the lack of care for others and our land. Our love of self and over bearing need for leisure and entitlement to feel that we deserve to sit around and just to keep on sitting there with our damn phones in our damn faces, clicking on like or commenting on your friends 230th selfie and the picture of her dinner. We have become dumb and numb but it will be okay, right? Just keep on looking at that tv or phone and over indulge yourself with more and more seek those material items because that is what makes you feel good for right now, and repeat.
well said
0.3 Bq? Really? I think the author missed percentages on this article for a reason, only to scare people, who don’t know, how MINIMAL that effect is. Is it even 0.001% increase to current NATURAL radiation level?
I live in Minnesota and we like to eat fish. The fish we buy in the store is likely from the Pacific. Are radioactive carcinogens tested for before the fish is put on the market. I have a 4 year old and the last thing I want is for him to get cancer because I was trying to feed him healthy alternatives to chicken nuggets and hot dogs
This is why we can’t have nice things… 🙁
A new meaning to “Made in Japan”!
How is it that nuclear plants can be condoned and built on the coast of one the most tsunami and earthquake prone country’s on this planet? We are the caretakers of the future….W_H_Y_!!!
Try reading this article by my son for his PhD, his findings are that this article is incorrect, we have nothing to fear about the caesium levels. //www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X15300680
then why have cancer rates spiked in humans and fish in contact with the radioactive cesium if it has no effect ?
you need too do more research cause it is ELE wake up