Fukushima news

Fukushima emergency... blog has today a batch of more info, unavoidably bad news, on the ongoing nuclear disaster of Japan. I'm just listing a few here, if you really want to know please follow the specialist blogs and sites.

Fifth reactor under serious problems

On one side reactor number 5, originally spared, from the catastrophe is now under major cooling problems, with no solution in sight. This has been ongoing for a week or more now but the it becomes more and more serious as the situation is not being brought under control in any non-provisional way.

Offshore dumping sites around Japan hit by earthquakes

In the map to the right it seems surprisingly obvious that these offshore dumping areas for radioactive and other highly toxic materials are right on top of major fault lines. So good for those who trust the engineers' qualification and seriousness.

On the other hand it underlines that radioactive pollution in the North Pacific Ocean is probably not only caused by Fukushima but also for a whole half century of nuclear madness, which has left lots of residues on land but also under the sea. 

Independent researchers are prevented from investigating the radioactivity around Japan and only governments and the UN agency IAEA (under tight control by the Nuclear Lobby) are allowed to do so.

→ original article at FEWCWD.

Fukushima radiation in Philippines: no dose is "harmless"

 

Dr. Romeo F. Quijano writes from Philippines reporting that the authorities have finally acknowledged that Fukushima fallout has reached the country, although they are minimizing its importance. Excerpt:

For the past several years, health research on the effects of ionizing radiation exposure has focused on estimating the number of excess radiation-induced fatal cancers and excess severe genetic diseases to be expected in a population given the average estimated exposure to radiation for the country. Other radiation-related human tragedies such as earlier occurrence of cancers, endocrine disorders, immune dysfunction, developmental disorders, and other illnesses are not included. This averaging approach also fails to deal with global distribution of air and water with the result that deaths and the cumulative damage to future generations are not limited to one country.

The painful human experience from ionizing radiation since the US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 has stimulated a tremendous growth in understanding the harmful effects of ionizing radiation on the human body, despite the official suppression of independent scientific data by the nuclear powers. Thanks to independent scientists, we now know that radiation has no safe level.
As early as 1955, Dr. Alice Stewart. who was head of the Department of Preventative Medicine at Oxford University, discovered that the number of children dying of leukemia had risen 50% in only a few years. She determined that babies born to mothers who had a series of maternal X-rays of the pelvic region during pregnancy were twice as likely to develop leukemia or cancer as babies of mothers who had not been X-rayed. These diagnostic X-rays exposed the patient to extremely low doses of radiation. Other researchers have since verified these findings and have shown the number of mutations to be in direct ratio to the amount of radiation received by the reproductive organs.
In 1970, Dr. Thomas Mancuso, a professor of occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh, was commissioned by the Atomic Energy Commission to study the “biological effects, if any, of low-level ionizing radiation among workers employed in atomic energy facilities”. It was expected that Mancuso’s study would find that nuclear work was safe. However, Dr. Mancuso's team found a definite relationship between low levels of radiation and the development of certain types of cancer in spite of the fact that all workers employed were specifically selected for their excellent health. They discovered three kinds of cancers among the workers: lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and cancers of blood-forming tissues, particularly Myeloma. The cancers were occurring at well below the radiation exposure levels of the official limit of five rads per year. This meant that the current standards for nuclear safety might be twenty times too high. However, there were powerful forces who suppressed the research. Mancuso’s funding was cut off and he was ordered not to publish his findings. He was denied further access to the workers’ data. In 1977 he was ordered to give up his files or have them seized.  Practically everyone who sided with Mancuso were subjected to character assassination or lost their funding. The government would only allow studies of workers health records to be performed by labs under them. The data of workers health became the virtual monopoly of a small group of government sponsored scientists and were unavailable to the larger scientific community.

Fukushima women demand government resignations

Fukushima Women against Nukes have demanded in press conference the resignation of Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara as well as a sensible change in the government policies about nuclear pollution and, particularly, its effect on children.

They also denounce the obscurantism and shameless cheating of the Government in measuring radiation and evaluating the danger it poses for the population.

They also feel extremely upset for the lack of support by the authorities to the nuclear refugees.

They denounce that the Government is only concerned with hiding the problem.