WHY IS'NT MSM REPORTING ON THE escalating DANGERS of Radiation, UPDATED

NYTimes: Doctors want ban on thyroid cancer screenings — “A tsunami of thyroid cancer… Stop the diagnosis… We need to actively discourage early detection” — WSJ: Judge rules nuclear reactors causing thyroid cancers — Study: Fukushima-related tumors can spread very fast, must be closely monitored

Published: November 7th, 2014 at 10:11 am ET
By ENENews
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New York Times, Nov. 5, 2014 (emphasis added): To the shock of many cancer experts, the most common cancer in South Korea… is now thyroid cancer, whose incidence has increased fifteenfold in the past two decades. “A tsunami of thyroid cancer,” as one researcher puts it… Cancer experts agree that the reason for the situation in South Korea and elsewhere is not a real increase in the disease. Instead, it is down to screening… “It’s a warning to us in the U.S. that we need to be very careful in our advocacy of screening,” said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society… some doctors, including Dr. Hyeong Sik Ahn of the College of Medicine at Korea University in Seoul, the first author of the new paper, have called for thyroid cancer screening to be banned… Thyroid experts in the United States are calling for restraint in diagnosing and treating tiny tumors… Dr. R. Michael Tuttle… said the best way… was to “stop the diagnosis… decrease screening”
New York Times Op-ed by H. Gilbert Welch, Nov. 5, 2014: An Epidemic of Thyroid Cancer [in South Korea]?… Nowhere in the world is the rate of any cancer growing faster… Where did all those new thyroid cancers come from? They were always there. As early as 1947 [See: August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both ~150 miles from S. Korea] … thyroid cancer was a frequent finding during autopsies. Studies have since shown that over a third of adults have thyroid cancer… Even without a concerted effort to promote screening, thyroid cancer incidence in the United States is up threefold since 1975. To reverse this trend, we need to actively discourage early thyroid cancer detection… having doctors not look too hard for early cancer is in your interest… Too many epidemiologists concern themselves.. with hoping to find small health effects of environmental exposures — or worse, uncertain effects of minor genetic alterations.
Wall St. Journal, Oct 21, 2014: A South Korean court for the first time has ruled in favor of a plaintiff claiming… thyroid cancer was caused by radiation from six nuclear power plants located [5 miles] from her house… “She has lived within 10 km of the plants for over 20 years and has thus been exposed to radiation for a long time. Other than the radiation from the nuclear reactors, there’s no clear reason for her cancer,” the court said… [A] government-commissioned study in 2011… showed women living within 5 km of nuclear plants had 2.5 times higher incidences of thyroid cancer… [In a study of the plaintiff's county by a] nuclear-power research institute… between July 2010 and December 2013, about 1.4%… were found to have thyroid cancer… in 2011 [women had] 114 cases out of 100,000 [0.11%].
UC San Francisco, Oct. 27, 2014: For the first time, researchers have found that exposure to radioactive iodine is associated with more aggressive forms of thyroid cancer… Lydia Zablotska, MD [said] “Our group has previously shown that exposures to [Chernobyl's] radioactive iodine significantly increase the risk of thyroid cancer… The new study shows that radiation exposures are also associated with distinct clinical features that are more aggressive”… Zablotska said the findings have implications for those exposed to [Fukushima's] radioactive iodine fallout... “children or adolescents to the fallout are at highest risk and should probably be screened for thyroid cancer regularly, because these cancers are aggressive, and they can spread really fast… Clinicians should be aware of the aggressiveness of radiation-associated tumors and closely monitor those at high risk.”… radioactive iodine [exposures] are associated with a whole spectrum of thyroid diseases… Thyroid cancer is ordinarily rare among children, with less than one new case per million diagnosed each year… [In the study] researchers diagnosed 158 thyroid cancers among 11,664 [13,546 per million] subjects…
See also: Japan Expert: Outbreak of cancer now underway in children after Fukushima; Clear evidence of epidemic — Official: Would be disastrous to conclude it’s actually from Fukushima

Published: November 7th, 2014 at 10:11 am ET

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Mainichi publishes report on thyroid cancer: 30% in Fukushima now with tumors of 2cm or less, thyroid gland only 5cm by 3cm total — Claims cancer increases after 10 sievert radiation dose, so Japan ok (10,000 millisieverts) April 27, 2012
Japan Paper: Now 104 children diagnosed with cancer of thyroid in Fukushima — New results show 5-fold increase in rate of suspected/confirmed cancers August 26, 2014
Fukushima Cover-Up: Extraordinary amount of kids have thyroid cancer — Officials say NOT caused by Fukushima since Chernobyl’s cancers took 4-5 yrs to appear — Yet data shows it started soon after ’86 meltdown… number of cases still rising 25 years later September 29, 2013
Asahi: “Unexpectedly high” number of thyroid cancers in Fukushima children — Experts: Premature to say nuclear disaster played no role June 6, 2013
Kyodo: Thyroid cancer found in Fukushima child September 11, 2012

November 7th, 2014 | Category: Fukushima Daiichi, Japan (Fukushima)

Top Headline: ‘Fukushima radiation identified off northern California’ — 50% of samples around West Coast test positive — 7.7 Bq/m3 of cesium near California shore, expected to keep rising for years to come (MAP)

Published: November 10th, 2014 at 9:43 am ET

Statesman Journal, Nov. 10, 2014 at 8:22a ET: Fukushima radiation identified off northern California — Low-level radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident has been detected in multiple samples of ocean water off the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is reporting. The sample nearest to shore was taken about 100 miles off the coast of Eureka, in Northern California… http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...1/SJ_Front.jpgMassive amounts of contaminated water were released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant… Radioactive water has continued to leak and be released from the complex… No state or federal agency is testing Pacific waters for radiation… [Ken Buesseler, a WHOI marine chemist] is looking for cesium-134, the so-called “fingerprint” of Fukushima… He’s also looking for higher-than-background levels of cesium-137, another Fukushima isotope that already is present in the world’s oceans… Buesseler partnered with a group of volunteers on the research vessel ‘Point Sur’ to take a series of about 50 samples offshore, from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Eureka. So far, about 20 of those samples have been analyzed, and 10 have been positive for cesium-134…
Ken Buesseler, WHOI: “It’s not zero… But it’s not some large, dangerous amount of cesium that might reach our shorelines… The models predict cesium levels to increase over the next two to three years, but do a poor job describing how much more dilution will take place and where those waters will reach the shoreline first.”http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload..._07_sample.jpg
Ken Buesseler, Reddit’s ‘Ask Me Anything‘, Nov. 10, 2014 at 8:30a ET: I’m Ken Buesseler, an oceanographer who studies marine radioactivity. I’ve been doing this since I was a graduate student, looking at plutonium in the Atlantic deposited from the atmospheric nuclear weapons testing that peaked in the early 1960’s. Then came Chernobyl in 1986, the year of my PhD… The triple disaster of the 2011 “Tohoku” earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent radiation releases at Fukushima Dai-ichi were unprecedented events for the ocean and society… the cooling waters and contaminated groundwater enter the ocean directly, and still can be measured to this day. Across the Pacific, ocean currents carrying Fukushima cesium are predicted to be detectable along the west coast of North America by 2014 or 2015, and though models suggest at levels below those considered of human health concern, measurements are needed. That being said, in the US, no federal agency has taken on this task… new sampling efforts further offshore have confirmed the presence of small amounts of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant 100 miles (150 km) due west of Eureka. What does that mean for our oceans?… I will be back at 1 pm EST (6 pm UTC, 10 AM PST) to answer your questions, Ask Me Anything!
Buesseler’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ starts at 1pm ET here (questions can be submitted now)

Published: November 10th, 2014 at 9:43 am ET
By ENENews

Related Posts

Fukushima nuclear waste detected off U.S. West Coast, from California to Canada — “There is definitely offshore Fukushima cesium now” — Test results will not be revealed to public for several weeks (VIDEO) October 17, 2014
Gov’t Test: Cattle feed at California dairy farm had 300 pCi/kg of radioactive cesium after Fukushima; 9-month gap between when sample harvested and when received by lab — New UC Berkeley study reveals over 3,500 pCi/kg of cesium deposited on nearby roadside February 15, 2014
Senior Scientist: Second radioactive plume headed to California — “Effects of Fukushima will be increasing” as front edge of large water plume arrives — Levels to rise for years — “It’s a health and safety issue here” yet no one testing ocean (VIDEO) January 19, 2014
California Professor: “Serious threat” to our ocean, environment and society from ongoing Fukushima radiation releases — U. of California: “Unprecedented events with global consequences… fallout is far from over” — Scientist: ‘Risky’ (PHOTO) May 27, 2014
Professors: Fukushima has emerged as global threat — Major health concerns along west coast — Bioaccumulation expected to keep rising for decades — Gov’t failing to inform public of looming long-term radioactive hazard… Instead, official gives tips on how to disguise radiation levels from public (PHOTO) October 8, 2014

November 10th, 2014 | Category: Canada, US, West Coast

New report examines nuclear weapons materials that have gone missing

By Dibya Sarkar

Despite a greater focus on nuclear terrorism as a top threat to international security, a new report tries to shed light on nuclear weapons materials that have gone missing – an area that has gotten very little scrutiny.

The new report from the U.S. Army War College says international efforts, namely high-profile summits and official and unofficial workshops, have largely focused around how to prevent nuclear theft and sabotage with more countries agreeing to get rid of their weapons-grade nuclear fuels.

But there has been "almost no attention" on incidences of material unaccounted for, known as MUF – namely, nuclear weapons-usable plutonium and highly enriched uranium.

"U.S. nuclear weapons MUF alone is pegged at nearly six tons – i.e., enough to fashion at least 800 low-tech, multi-kiloton bombs," the report says. "Russian MUF figures are assumed easily to be as large. As for Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Israeli, and North Korean MUF figures, though, we have only a general idea of what they might be."

The report also says that civilian production of weapons-usable plutonium in the U.S., United Kingdom, Japan, France and India is also a concern. For example, losses of plutonium reprocessing and fuel making in the UK and Japan have been significant – "measured in scores of bombs worth. What they might be elsewhere, again, is unknown."

While U.S. practices to account for nuclear material have improved since the Cold War, it doesn't answer the extent of such unaccounted material or how such losses can be prevented.

"Without these answers, reducing or capping existing nuclear weapons arsenals and blocking future nuclear proliferation must remain iffy propositions," the report says.

The report, which is divided into four parts written by several experts, provides more detailed information about some past MUF cases across the globe, U.S. government policies regarding nuclear nonproliferation and work by the International Atomic Energy Agency, among other issues.

https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/neo/la...6eo#3163301864

For more:
- download the report from the U.S. Army War College
Related Articles:
Energy Department IG cites problems at office that transports nuclear materials
IG: Space-based sensors being developed to detect nuclear detonations needs greater oversight
GAO: Security at nuclear weapons labs improved, but NNSA needs more cohesive strategy

Dead zones occur when fertilizer runoff clogs waterways with nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous. That leads to an explosion of microbes that consumes oxygen and leaves the water depleted of oxygen, harming marine life.

http://www.alipac.us/f19/global-warm...-zones-314257/

Radiation From the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is Approaching the California Coast

But scientists say there’s no need to panic.

http://www.takepart.com/sites/defaul...?itok=EW8em8Ou(Photo: Edwin Remsberg/Getty Images)

November 10, 2014 By Taylor Hill
Taylor Hill is TakePart's associate environment and wildlife editor.full bio

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Monday said they had detected cesium 134—radioactive fallout from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown—about 100 miles offshore of the Northern California town of Eureka.

But don’t freak out.

“This Fukushima-derived cesium is far below where one might expect any measurable risk to human health or marine life, according to international health agencies,” the scientists said in a statement. The levels were 1,000 lower than the limits for drinking water set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, they said.

In an "Ask Me Anything" post on Reddit on Monday morning, Ken Buesseler, a Woods Hole marine scientist, said that if a person swam for six hours a day, 365 days a year, off Eureka, the radiation exposure would still be a thousand times less than what a person would be exposed to from a single dental X-Ray.

Since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the radiation dispersed from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident has been making its way across the Pacific Ocean. The power plant meltdown released unprecedented amounts of radioactive elements into the ocean, with cesium 134 traces in waters off Japan’s coast tens of millions of times higher than what Buesseler and his team have found here.

“When cesium levels are in the 10’s millions, there are possible direct impacts on mortality and reproductive ability of marine life,” Buesseler said on Reddit.

Those concerns prompted Japanese officials to close fisheries and impose some of the strictest radiation testing on food products in the world.

In the U.S., scientists have been measuring Fukushima-influenced radioactivity in kelp forests off Southern California, fish caught from San Diego to Seattle, and Wood Hole has been monitoring water samples from Alaska to Mexico.

Buesseler said the Eureka offshore sample was the only one that showed traces of cesium 134.

So when do scientists expect the radiation to reach the West Coast?

"We don't know exactly when the Fukushima isotopes will be detectable closer to shore because the mixing of offshore surface waters and coastal waters is hard to predict,” Buesseler said in a statement.

http://www.takepart.com/sites/defaul...?itok=KzR-PGEw

Here's What's Being Done to Test Seafood for Radiation After Fukushima

While the detected levels are well below those deemed harmful to humans, models predicting how much radiation could be along the West Coast suggest cesium levels will increase over the next two to three years.

Buesseler said careful and consistent monitoring of the water is needed to keep tabs on the radiation.

“We need both citizen scientists to keep up the coastal monitoring network, but also research vessels and comprehensive studies offshore like this one, that are too expensive for the average citizen to support," he said.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014...-wont-kill-you

12:09 PM
MON NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Traces Of Fukushima Radioactivity Detected In West Coast Waters

By TOM BANSE

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...Head_view.jpegFile photo of Oregon coast at Lincoln City.
Tom Banse

An oceanography institute announced Monday that trace amounts of radioactivity from Japan have been detected off the West Coast.

Radiation experts say the low levels of radioactivity measured do not pose a health threat here.

'About A Thousand Times Less Than A Drinking Water Standard'

A post-earthquake tsunami in 2011 caused the Fukushima nuclear plant to spill a large amount of radioactive contamination into the Pacific. Oceanographers projected that it would take until this year for highly diluted traces to reach the West Coast of North America.

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...lustration.jpg
In this illustration of ocean currents, white dots indicate where no cesium-134 was detected. Blue dots indicate locations were low levels of cesium-134 were detected farther offshore.
Credit Courtesy of WHOI

A recent research cruise from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Eureka, California detected the front edge of the plume multiple times between 100 and 1,000 miles offshore.

"The levels offshore still are quite low,” said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “So by that I mean they are a couple units of these Becquerels per cubic meter — something that is about a thousand times less than a drinking water standard."

Buesseler says he is reluctant to "trivialize" any amount of radiation, but says he personally has no concerns about swimming, boating or eating fish from local waters.

Results Latest In A Series Of Tests
Since the start of this year, Buesseler's lab has also tested about 50 seawater samples collected at the shore by concerned coastal residents from California to Alaska. All of those results have come up negative.

This sampling was paid for through crowdfunding as part of an ongoing "citizen science" monitoring project initiated by Buesseler.

A parallel but independent monitoring effort run through the radiation health lab at Oregon State University found no detectable traces of Fukushima radiation in seawater samples collected earlier this year in near shore waters along the Pacific Northwest coast.

'Much Less Than The Natural Background Radiation In Seawater'

Scientists tracking the plume from Japan look for a short-lived cesium isotope, cesium-134, that serves as the "fingerprint" of Fukushima contamination.

For context, radioecologist Delvan Neville at OSU said it helps to know that the cesium-134 levels reported by the Woods Hole researcher are "much less than the natural background radiation in seawater." In an interview, Neville was certain the low levels of Fukushima-derived isotopes detected in the northeastern Pacific do not pose an environmental or human health radiological threat.

Buesseler is scheduled to present his findings Thursday during the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Vancouver, Canada.

The results Buesseler reported corroborate detections of cesium-134 in seawater far offshore from Vancouver Island starting last year.

Scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada and the University of Victoria are collaborating on a monitoring effort that also includes fish sampling. None of the salmon, halibut, sablefish and spiny dogfish they have analyzed have contained detectable levels of radiation traceable to Fukushima.

Listen
Listening...

http://www.kplu.org/post/traces-fukushima-radioactivity-detected-west-coast-waters

Fukushima Radiation in West Coast Waters is Harmless, Say Experts

By Brian Stallard
Nov 10, 2014 06:02 PM EST

Monitoring efforts taken along the West Coast of the United States and Canada have revealed that radiation from the 2011 Fukushima Daiiachi nuclear power plant disaster is still washing in. However, don't let the media hype fool you. Experts are quick to add that the trace amounts of radiation discovered is completely harmless to humans.

http://images.natureworldnews.com/da...grass-blue.jpgThe Fukushima Effect: Insidious Radiation Impact

http://images.natureworldnews.com/da.../5401/kelp.jpgWest Coast Kelp Safe from Fukushima-Related Radiation (VIDEO)

In fact, according to Ken Buesseler, a chemist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the telltale radioactive compound that was detected, called censium, was at concentrations more than 1,000 times lower than acceptable drinking water limits set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"Most people don't realize that there was already cesium in Pacific waters prior to Fukushima, but only the cesium-137 isotope," Buesseler said in a statement. "Cesium-137 undergoes radioactive decay with a 30-year half-life and was introduced to the environment during atmospheric weapons testing in the 1950s and '60s. Along with cesium-137, we detected cesium-134 - which also does not occur naturally in the environment and has a half-life of just two years. Therefore the only source of this cesium-134 in the Pacific today is from Fukushima."

According to the WHOI, thanks to their incredibly low concentrations (less than 2 Becquerels per cubic meter of water) it was actually very difficult to detect these compounds at all, which explains why the general public didn't hear about this sooner.

"We don't know exactly when the Fukushima isotopes will be detectable closer to shore because the mixing of offshore surface waters and coastal waters is hard to predict," Buesseler added. "Mixing is hindered by coastal currents and near-shore upwelling of colder deep water."

According to the chemist, the offshore radioactivity reported this week came from water samples collected and sent to Buesseler's lab for analysis in August by a group of "Our Radioactive Ocean" volunteers on the research vessel Point Sur sailing between Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and Eureka, California.

This kind of crowd-sourced data has proven incredibly helpful for researchers, where federal agency monitoring alone has proven not enough for tracing this hard-to-find radiation.

"The models predict [West Coast] cesium levels to increase over the next two to three years, but do a poor job describing how much more dilution will take place and where those waters will reach the shore line first," explained Buesseler. "So we need both citizen scientists to keep up the coastal monitoring network."

http://www.natureworldnews.com/artic...ss-experts.htm

Canadian scientists detect “significant” concentrations of radioactive material off West Coast, levels double in months since last test — Marine Chemist: “Much greater concern” over Fukushima releases that will be hitting shores of US & Canada; Lack of data “really disturbing” (AUDIO)

Published: November 10th, 2014 at 4:34 pm ET
By ENENews
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Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (pdf), Oct. 22, 2014 (emphasis added): Arrival of Fukushima radioactivity in North American continental waters… The radioactivity plume was transported northeastward towards North America by the Kuroshio Current… Water samples were collected… in June of 2011, 2012 and 2013 and February, 2014 on a line (Line P) extending to a location (Sta. P26), approximately 1500 km west of Victoria, BC… [W]ater samples collected in June, 2012 at Sta. P26 detected 134Cs at levels indicating the presence of contamination from the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident. The 2013 results revealed the presence of 134Cs in the upper 100 m along the entire length of Line P http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...1/MEQ_2014.jpgindicating that the Fukushima signal had fully arrived in Canadian territorial waters. Levels of Fukushima 137Cs were about 1 Bq/m3 in June, 2013 which is equivalent to previous background levels of 137Cs from atmospheric fallout. These levels had increased to values of about 2 Bq/m3 by February, 2014. These 137Cs concentrations are significant, but are several orders of magnitude below those that would be considered a threat to the environment or human health.
Call with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution marine chemist Ken Buesseler, June 2014:

At 25:45 in – Buesseler: The question is, ‘How much higher will [the concentration of radionuclides] get with the arrival of 134Cs and the other isotopes?’
At 2:745 in – Buesseler: A paper that came out last year [shows] in a couple of years it’s actually going to be higher than its going to be on the front edge, kind of makes sense. But what’s really disturbing, and what concerns me, is when I saw this paper was there were no data to test this.
At 44:45 in — Question: I’m wondering if there are other radionuclides that might not travel with the cesium. Maybe they’re just not as significant or not as many — but couldn’t there be other radionuclides, even if the cesium didn’t show up?… Buesseler: There are other isotopes that were released… What’s happening today off Japan… offshore, maybe 100 Bq/m3 of cesium, but the level of strontium-90 is almost the same… The ground waters that are a continued source tend to be enriched in strontium-90 [and] any number of isotopes including strontium-90… I would say the concern needs to move more towards strontium-90 and it is there at almost equal concentrations, it’s a bone-seeking isotope and therefore it stays in the fish for hundreds of days, not a couple of months, and in our systems as well… That is by far, to my mind, a much greater concern for new releases that will show up on our shores 3 years from now.
At 54:00 in — Buesseler: Those ocean currents would carry any isotope with them… 134Cs, it’s kind of like the canary in the coal mine [for] other isotopes… I share you’re concern about some of these fish, mammals… We need monitoring, we need measurements, and so far it’s taken the public to really make that happen in the ocean and the water, and I hope that it continues for other isotopes…

Full teleconference here

Published: November 10th, 2014 at 4:34 pm ET
By ENENews

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Nuclear Expert: This is just 1st radioactive wave hitting U.S. and Canada; Fukushima pouring into ocean, unstoppable for years and years — Marine Expert: No sign it will stop anytime soon; Plant unstable, potentially worse than Chernobyl (AUDIO) January 21, 2014
Physician: The salmon migrate through radioactive plumes coming off Fukushima, then we catch them on Canada’s shores — Concerned about lack of testing — Officials “rely on Japan for test results” (VIDEO) August 24, 2013
Fukushima Plume Arrives at West Coast — Expert: “If this was of greater health concern, we’d be very worried”; One model predicts levels over 1,000% higher than another, “this is not really acceptable” (GRAPHIC) February 25, 2014
Radio: “Surprisingly, high concentrations [of Fukushima cesium] found in Vancouver area” since ocean currents slow down — Levels are increasing — “Might be hotspots where radiation concentrates” — “Chances are high for marine life to absorb it… concern about mussels… clams, oysters” (AUDIO) April 1, 2014
Physicians: ‘Interesting fact’ for West Coast in new UN report, 95% of Fukushima discharges transported in Pacific; Contamination to impact N. America with ‘uncertain consequences’ for public health — Chemist: Concern over recent releases, “They’re changing in character” (VIDEO) October 26, 2013

November 10th, 2014 | Category: Audio/Video Clips, Canada, US, West Coast

Japanese doctors threatened for revealing data on how bad Fukushima-related illnesses have become — Gundersen: We had pregnant sisters in Tokyo deliver two dead babies and one with deformities that’s alive; Gov’t refuses to disclose miscarriages or stillbirths around Fukushima (AUDIO)

Published: November 12th, 2014 at 11:52 pm ET
By ENENews
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45 comments

Excerpts from Nuclear Hotseat w/ Libbe HaLevy, Nov. 12, 2014 (at 33:15 in):

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education: We have firsthand knowledge from at least a half dozen Japanese doctors… who have said they have been threatened… if they speak frankly to their patients about the health effects that they’re experiencing; or if they frankly speak in public about their fears — and, in fact, measurements — of how bad radioactive illnesses really are. So we know of at least a half a dozen doctors who are being ‘sat on’, and if 6 are, you can be certain that many more are as well. It’s a pressure that’s being applied up and down the spectrum… [You would now expect] exactly what we’re seeing — earlier cancers and thyroid nodules. Then over the next 15 to 20 years, increased organ cancers as well as muscular cancers… The fact of the matter is, we’re going to see cancers in that 4 to 30 year time span. And I still stand by what I’ve been saying now for 3 years. I think there will be a million extra cancers as a result of Fukushima Daiichi.

Gundersen: For Asahi Shimbun, a major newspaper, to basically call on people to [move] back home based on the [claim there's no increase in birth defects]… is absolutely absurd. The number they’re not giving us is how many stillbirths and how many miscarriages there’s been in relation to the rest of Japan — and those are radiation-induced. You’ll get a stillbirth or you’ll get a miscarriage when a fetus is deformed or it is already developing cancer… The Japanese are not reporting stillbirths and miscarriages in Fukushima… That’s a much better indication… There are 35 million people in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area [and] their homes are contaminated… We had two women, sisters, both pregnant at the same time — one with twins, and one with a single baby. Two of the kids were stillbirths. The other was born with a deformity. They had the metallic taste in their mouth as the babies were in [the womb]. They lived in Tokyo, 130 miles from the accident. They’re people, they’re not statistics… and they’ve got no place to run…. no place to go.

Download the full interview here

Related Posts

Japan blog author claims medical workers said malformed babies are being declared as stillbirths or miscarriages — Not included in statistics (VIDEO) December 18, 2011
Gundersen: Deformities, stillbirths not being reported after Fukushima — Officials withholding truth about health effects — Gov’t suppressing studies on deformed animals (AUDIO) October 3, 2013
Gundersen: Japan gov’t attempting to cover up health effects — A lot of deformities and cancers will be identified by citizens in next couple of years (AUDIO) August 14, 2012
“I asked the government to kill me — It’s better to be dead than alive these days” (VIDEO) June 4, 2012
Gundersen: Health effects from Fukushima are being hidden — Japan not publishing data on stillbirths, spontaneous abortions, cancers, and more since 3/11 — Indicates they’re afraid to release it (VIDEO) November 15, 2013

Radiation levels spike 7,000% at US nuclear site — Coming from Plutonium, Uranium, Americium, or other alpha emitters — AP: Workers shelter in buildings — Official: Contaminated sample is so safe “it could have been… put in someone’s lunch bucket” (VIDEO)

Published: November 11th, 2014 at 6:28 pm ET
By ENENews
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396 comments

AP, Nov. 6, 2014 (emphasis added): A pair of air samplers at [New Mexico's WIPP] nuclear waste repository detected low levels of radioactive contamination after workers restarted one of the fans… workers took shelter inside buildings before restarting the fan…
Carlsbad Current Argus, Nov. 10, 2014: A new small, but measurable amount of radiation was detected… [Tim Runyon, of WIPP Recovery Communications said] officials were expecting a small radiation leak…http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...10-21-2014.jpg
US Dept. of Energy – WIPP Air Sampling for Station B (The amount of radioactivity released into the atmosphere -Source), Nov 6, 2014:

Oct. 21-22, 2014: Alpha @ 72 dpm
Test results over the previous 6 months have averaged below 1 dpm
Levels haven’t been this high since the initial days of the Feb. 14 WIPP disaster

WIPP Town Hall, Nov. 6, 2014:

Tammy Reynolds, Nuclear Waste Partnership: On the 21st, we put that fan back in service… We wanted to make sure we were prepared if there were some particles that came lose… We were very pleased with the results… Less than we actually anticipated… much less than any person would ever be… impacted from.
Russell Hardy, Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center (created by DOE funds): We did see a small amount of Americium-241… a few hundred feet from Station B… This filter could have been… folded up and put in someone’s lunch bucket, that’s how small this is… It’s measurable [but] it does not pose any concern to public health. (Public health refers to the population as a whole, not the individual -WHO)

Nuclear Hotseat w/ Libbe HaLevy, Oct 21, 2014 — Don Hancock, Southwest Research & Information Center (at 22:30): Their analysis… showed the starting of that fan, it’s a different fan than the one that’s been operating most recently… could trigger some additional radiation coming out… Because the site is contaminated, there’s constantly the possibility that additional contamination can be released… This is an ongoing problem, and will be… unless the site is closed up… The DOE is proposing many activities that are very likely to release a lot more radioactivity than [the fan restart]… People are correct to be concerned… We’re talking about this going on for years into the future if DOE’s plans are approved.
Watch the WIPP town hall here

Published: November 11th, 2014 at 6:28 pm ET

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Paper: WIPP workers “not permitted to speak” — “Their jobs won’t ever be the same… will face new paradigm” — Concerns plutonium contaminated surrounding salt — Preparing for radiation levels so high, only robots can be used (VIDEO) April 22, 2014
NBC Right Now: Explosion at U.S. nuclear site — Kept secret from public — Happened in plant where plutonium was manufactured — “One of the most hazardous buildings” in America — Workers: “Flames shot out… big, loud bang like a shot gun” (VIDEO) May 4, 2014
Video: Gov’t official ‘chokes up’ over WIPP problems — Needs 15-second pause at community meeting — President of nuclear dump replaced — “We definitely got away with not having anyone seriously hurt” — Took 30 minutes to notice fire, truck leaking oil, extinguisher didn’t work March 14, 2014
Reuters: “Unsafe levels of radiation” were released during WIPP accident; More workers contaminated with plutonium — AP: Leak of radioactive material could’ve been “orders of magnitude larger”; Feds now testing air & soil 50 miles from site (AUDIO) March 31, 2014
TV: US Senators want federal agents near WIPP to check if safe; “A lot more people could have been hurt a lot worse” — Public “skeptical whole truth about environmental risks shared” — Report: “It will shut WIPP down for a year or more, and now everyone is talking about maybe WIPP is no good” (VIDEO) March 27, 2014

November 11th, 2014 | Category: Audio/Video Clips, US, WIPP

Tiny amount of Fukushima radiation reaches West Coast; does it worry you?

Posted on November 13, 2014 | By Jake Ellison
Use the zoom tool to see parts of the graphic:

A water sample taken in August from about 100 miles west of Eureka, California, has been found to contain a small amount of radiation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan.

“Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found the trace amounts of telltale radioactive compounds as part of their ongoing monitoring of natural and human sources of radioactivity in the ocean,” states a news release from the institute.
“We detected cesium-134, a contaminant from Fukushima, off the northern California coast. The levels are only detectable by sophisticated equipment able to discern minute quantities of radioactivity,” said Ken Buesseler, a WHOI marine chemist, who is leading the monitoring effort.

“Most people don’t realize that there was already cesium in Pacific waters prior to Fukushima, but only the cesium-137 isotope. Cesium-137 undergoes radioactive decay with a 30-year half-life and was introduced to the environment during atmospheric weapons testing in the 1950s and ’60s. Along with cesium-137, we detected cesium-134 – which also does not occur naturally in the environment and has a half-life of just two years. Therefore the only source of this cesium-134 in the Pacific today is from Fukushima.”

Basically, scientists say it’s nothing more than a curiosity or confirmation of models showing where some of that radiation will show up, but the rumors and fears surrounding radiation contamination are hard to dampen.

http://assets.newsinc.com/theweather...g?t=1415810400Fukushima Radiation Reaches U.S.

http://content-img.newsinc.com/jpg/1...g?t=1415810400

This is the second time radiation from Japan has shown up on our shores. In March, we reported:
A bit of cesium-134 — a telltale kind of radiation particle expected from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster — has been detected in a soil sample taken from the beach at Kilby Provincial Park up the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia, said Krzysztof Starosta, an associate professor of chemistry at Simon Fraser University.

The sample was collected by a marine biologist studying spawning salmon at that point in the river. Starosta said the university has collected five other samples from the area looking for more of the radiation, but so far nothing.

The arrival of a “radioactive plume” sounds pretty bad, but scientists repeatedly say running for your life would be an overreaction … refusing to eat fish and avoiding beaches would be too.

In fact, the last time Mike Priddy, supervisor of Washington’s Environmental Sciences Section, and his crew tested shellfish — which is where you would expect to find contaminants, because they filter the water — they found nothing, Priddy told us in February.

“We’re not seeing anything that requires anyone to be afraid,” he said.

He added in an email exchange today:
… if the water has radioactive material in it at any level, coming into contact with it will cause the contamination to transfer. That said, the levels of radioactivity we are talking about are VERY low and pose no real health affects regardless of how you are exposed, whether you come in contact with the water or somehow casually ingest it. The levels I have seen in seawater are interesting from a scientific point of view, but well below health concerns.

Nevertheless, it’s not like a little extra radiation is good for you either. So, oceanographers and health department officials from Washington and elsewhere have been monitoring our coastline for radiation that would have come from the wrecked nuclear plant. And there has been plenty of fear- and conspiracy-mongering surrounding the radiation leak from Fukushima.

A fervor was created last winter when a video (below) purporting to show “dangerously high radiation levels” in the sands of Pacifica State Beach in California surfaced in December. That video was quickly countered by state officials, who ran tests and found that what is on the beach remains “well below any levels considered unsafe for humans,” as SFGate reported.

“There is no public health risk at California beaches due to radioactivity related to events at Fukushima,” the California Department of Public Health said.

“Recent tests by the San Mateo County Public Health Department show that elevated levels of radiation at Half Moon Bay are due to naturally occurring materials and not radioactivity associated with the Fukushima incident,” it said.

Yeah, but …

Does radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster worry you?

Yes - scientists et al. either don't know all there is to know about the risk or may not be telling us.
No - I accept that the amount of radiation making it to our shores is too little to worry about.

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Some of the airborne radiation — in the form of iodine-131, which is produced by an active nuclear reactor — did cross the ocean shortly after the accident, and state officials did detect small amounts in our air for a couple of months; again, nothing even close to the total amount of “excess” radiation that would be dangerous to a person, Priddy said.

Also, there were those albacore tuna caught off our coast in 2012 with small amounts of some cesium-134 in them.

“We would not have detected it normally,” Priddy said, because the amount was so small. “We had to look hard for it. … Basically, so far, we have only seen a very, very small amount of radioactivity that may have been from Fukushima.”

http://blog.seattlepi.com/bigscience...-it-worry-you/

Fukushima Student: “It seems like we are about to get killed” — “Anyone, please, please save the lives of Fukushima people and children… Gov’t abandoned us… Japan is clearly going insane… Nothing has gotten better” (VIDEO)

Published: November 13th, 2014 at 8:36 pm ET
By ENENews
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IMDb – Kakusei: The Fukushima End (2014), Blondion Productions: Today the Japanese government assures its people of Fukushima’s safety and urges residents to move back. However, citizens are not convinced… Through the experiences of five individuals, this documentary reflects upon how culture has influenced the choices citizens make everyday, and how those have changed. http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...kusei_Test.jpg
Closing scene from ‘Kakusei’:

Hikaru Abe, student in Soma, Fukushima (40 km north of Fukushima Daiichi) who stayed behind after his mother and younger brother evacuated: “Nothing has gotten better… The government was incapable to deal with issues, covered up information we needed and even put pressure on us. While many human errors were seen, people in Fukushima worked hard to move on with the support from all over the country. Fukushima is in the process of recovery. Our government abandoned us. Anyone, please, please save the lives of Fukushima people and children. Japan is clearly going insane. It seems like we are about to get killed. Please lend your strength to Fukushima.”http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...Kakusei_HA.jpg

The documentary is extremely well produced. Its thoughtful subject matter, eye-catching cinematography and excellent sound design will hopefully soon be seen by millions. According to the film’s official trailer posted last year, “We are currently in need of funding to complete and distribute the film. Please lend your support and donate: http://www.blondion.com/support.”
This letter by Tomoko Hatsuzawa, a mother in Fukushima City, expresses sentiments similar to those shared by Hikaru. Hatsuzawa gave the letter to Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times, who also translates: “To people in the United States and around the world, I am so sorry for the uranium and plutonium that Japan has released into the environment. The fallout from Fukushima has already circled the world many times, reaching Hawaii, Alaska, and even New York. We live 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the plant and our homes have been contaminated beyond levels seen at Chernobyl… But the government will not help us. They tell us to stay put… I was eight years old when the Fukushima Daiichi plant opened. If I had understood what they were building, I would have fought against it. I didn’t realize that it contained dangers that would threaten my children, my children’s children and their children. I am grateful for all the aid all the world has sent us. Now, what we ask is for you to speak out against the Japanese government. Pressure them into taking action. Tell them to make protecting children their top priority. Thank you so much.”
Watch the Kakusei pre-screener here

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Lawmaker warns emperor of reality facing Japan: “Children are suffering from health problems” — Another official reveals “the incidence of cancer in children has been increasing” and is heckled (VIDEO) November 2, 2013
Japan Professor: Pregnant women get free new houses if they move back to Fukushima — Physician/Mayor: Children being severely harmed, must be evacuated; World has never come across situation like this (VIDEO) October 30, 2013
Video: 10 million people in Japan have been abandoned in high radiation areas after Fukushima — Kanto Region extremely contaminated March 13, 2013
Former Official: Fukushima radiation is killing children… heart problems, leukemia, thyroid — Terrible things are going on — Authorities hiding truth from world — We need to admit many people are dying, but we’re not allowed to say that (VIDEO) April 21, 2014

Fukushima nuclear waste detected off U.S. West Coast, from California to Canada — “There is definitely offshore Fukushima cesium now” — Test results will not be revealed to public for several weeks (VIDEO) October 17, 2014
Senior Scientist: Second radioactive plume headed to California — “Effects of Fukushima will be increasing” as front edge of large water plume arrives — Levels to rise for years — “It’s a health and safety issue here” yet no one testing ocean (VIDEO) January 19, 2014
California Professor: “Serious threat” to our ocean, environment and society from ongoing Fukushima radiation releases — U. of California: “Unprecedented events with global consequences… fallout is far from over” — Scientist: ‘Risky’ (PHOTO) May 27, 2014
Senior Scientist: Fukushima radiation already on West Coast of N. America — We don’t know how much is coming or how fast it’s moving, situation ‘evolving’ — Levels will continue to rise for years — Unprecedented event for Pacific, largest ever radioactive release into ocean (VIDEO) January 15, 2014
Gov’t Test: Cattle feed at California dairy farm had 300 pCi/kg of radioactive cesium after Fukushima; 9-month gap between when sample harvested and when received by lab — New UC Berkeley study reveals over 3,500 pCi/kg of cesium deposited on nearby roadside February 15, 2014

Massive starfish die-off in Pacific Ocean linked to mystery virus

By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News
POSTED: 11/17/14, 12:23 PM PST | UPDATED: 3 MINS AGO
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Marking a major breakthrough in the mystery of one of the largest wildlife die-offs ever recorded in the world’s oceans, scientists believe they have found the cause of a disease that has killed millions of starfish since last year along California and the Pacific Coast.

The epidemic, which threatens to reshape the coastal food web and change the makeup of tide pools for years to come, appears to be driven by a previously unidentified virus, a team of more than a dozen researchers from Cornell University, UC Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and other institutions reported Monday.

Scientists found that the same virus that is killing starfish today is also present in museum starfish specimens dating back to 1942, indicating the disease has been present in Pacific waters for 72 years.

Yet although there were smaller outbreaks in years past, nobody knows what triggered the current marine plague, which has killed up to 95 percent of starfish in some areas and spread from Alaska to Mexico.

“Something may have happened recently that caused it to go rogue, because we’ve never seen anything like the current outbreak,” said Peter Raimondi, a professor of biology at UC Santa Cruz and co-author of the study.

The outbreak, known as “wasting syndrome,” has infected at least 20 different species of starfish since it was first detected in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in June 2013. It spread to Oregon, Monterey Bay, Big Sur and as far south as Baja California, even killing starfish in major aquariums in Seattle, Vancouver, Monterey and other cities.

When infected, starfish at first become sluggish, then develop white lesions. Within days, they curl up and parts of their arms break off, sometimes literally crawling away. Not long after, the entire starfish turns into a gooey mess and dies.

In a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers concluded the disease is a type of densovirus. It is similar to viruses that affect insects, sea urchins and other invertebrates, and is distantly related to parvovirus, the cause of feline distemper in cats and canine parvovirus in dogs.

If the outbreak were a murder mystery, scientists now know the killer’s name. But the case is not yet closed.

“It’s definitely a huge breakthrough,” said Dr. Mike Murray, director of veterinary services at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “It provides a lot of other researchers a place to start and say, ‘OK, we found this virus in lots of sea stars. What was the trigger? What started it all off?

Are there other problems in other species?’”

So far, the researchers found, the virus is present in sea urchins and sand dollars, but isn’t killing them in large numbers.

The virus spreads in seawater and sand, the scientists discovered. But it does not affect humans. And there is no way to offer a cure to starfish populations.

“It would be nice if we could do that, but it’s too simplistic,” Murray said, comparing it to human epidemics like the Spanish flu of 100 years ago or the Black Death in 14th-century Europe.

“This is one of those natural phenomena that may or may not have a human basis behind it,” he said. “It is going to play itself out, and hopefully it will do that in a way that will allow sea stars to persist.

But there are no guarantees.”

Using cutting-edge genetic tools, scientists at Cornell pinpointed the disease.

“There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater, so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Cornell microbiologist Ian Hewson, lead author of the study.

Working with 335 starfish collected on the West Coast, the researchers ground up tiny amounts of tissue from infected starfish and injected it into healthy ones in lab tanks, learning how it spread.

Now that they believe they know the culprit, the next step will be to find out why it spread so widely. It could be something natural, like overpopulation of starfish in some areas. Or it could be related to pollution, warming waters or the increasing acidity of the oceans. If triggered by toxics, new laws could make a difference, experts say.

“It is probably part of their population cycle. But if it is driven by something linked to pollution or climate change or things like that, then we would have some responsibility to deal with it,” said Brian Tissot, director of the Humboldt State Marine Laboratory.

Starfish are key predators in tide pools and near-shore waters. They eat mussels, clams and snails. If their populations don’t recover relatively soon, mussels and other species could explode out of control, affecting other ocean life.

“How likely is this disease to maintain itself and keep populations suppressed?” Raimondi asked. “How likely is it to jump to other species? Those are really important questions. And the jury is still out.”

Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN

http://www.presstelegram.com/science...-mystery-virus

TV: Attempt to stop flow of highly radioactive liquid at Fukushima “in doubt” — AP: Much of it is pouring in trenches going out into Pacific — Experts: Amount entering ocean “increasing by 400 tons daily” — Problem “so severe” it’s consuming nearly all workers at site — Top Plant Official: “Little cause for optimism” (VIDEO)

Published: November 14th, 2014 at 11:46 am ET
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NHK, Nov. 13, 2014 (emphasis added): Radioactive water may still be entering tunnels — [TEPCO] faces another challenge in its effort to address radioactive water at the complex. It says highly contaminated water may still be flowing from reactor buildings into adjacent underground tunnels even after a work to stem the flow ended. The water in the tunnels is believed to be leaking into the sea… the firm began work in April to stem the flow of radioactive water between the reactor buildings and the tunnels… TEPCO finished the work on November 6th. But workers found that water levels in the reactor buildings and the tunnels are still linked…http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...1/NHK_flow.jpg
ITAR-TASS, Nov 14, 2014: Radioactive water discharge from Fukushima Daiichi NPP into ocean continues; According to specialists, the volume of contaminated liquid that is leaking into the ocean is increasing by 400 tons daily — The repair operations… aimed at preventing radioactive water discharges into the ocean have yielded no result, the NPP operator [TEPCO] reported on Friday. The water… is still leaking into the NPP drainage system even after last week’s operations to stop the leak… [D]ue to the major damage of the plant’s infrastructure most of the water that is poured in… leaks into the drainage system and gets into the ground waters and then into the Pacific Ocean… The radioactive contamination level in the ground waters, according to TEPCO, is very high…
AP, Nov 12, 2014: Japan’s nuclear cleanup stymied by water woes… nearly all the workers are devoted to a single, enormously distracting problem: coping with the vast amount of water that becomes contaminated after it is pumped into the reactors to keep the melted radioactive fuel inside from overheating… The water becomes contaminated upon exposure to the radioactive fuel, and much of it pours into the reactor basements and maintenance trenches that extend to the Pacific Ocean.
The Guardian, Nov. 13, 2014: The man in charge of cleaning up the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has admitted there is little cause for optimism… The water problem is so severe that [Tepco has] enlisted almost all of their 6,000 workers… to bring it under control… “ I have no intention of being optimistic” [Fukushima Daiichi’s manager Akira Ono] told the Guardian… large quantities [of contaminated water] find their way to other parts of the site, including maintenance trenches connected to the sea… “The contaminated water is the most pressing issue – there is no doubt about that,” Ono said… “I cannot say exactly when, I hope things start getting better when the measures start taking effect.”

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US Gov’t: Uranium plant leak “warranted emergency classification of ALERT” — Worker: “Video shows release was out of control… Smoke billowing… They refused to warn community” — TV: “I’ve lived here 30 years and never seen anything like it… I was shocked” — “It’s ridiculous… it’s not contained, everybody watched it” (VIDEOS)

Published: November 17th, 2014 at 10:40 am ET
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Follow-up to: “Emergency” at US Nuclear Facility, Uranium Gas Release–Witnesses: “There’s the plume… moving across highway… Chemical taste in mouth… I could smell it!” (VIDEO)

NRC, Nov. 13, 2014 (emphasis added): NRC inspection found that Honeywell did not recognize that the HF [hydrogen fluoride gas] released… warranted an emergency classification of ALERT. Honeywell agreed with the NRC findings and subsequently reported their failure… The NRC has reviewed Honeywell’s calculations on the amount of HF released and their subsequent plume estimate… weekly radioactive air monitoring reports for the fence line and nearest residence [show] the activity results were within the Honeywell license limits.http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...fore_Spray.jpg
NRC, Oct. 27, 2014: An operator noticed on the room monitor video screen a haze in the air… This haze indicated a UF6 leak… public outside the plant reported a cloud emanating from the building for five minutes before the mitigation spray towers were activated… Region II received initial notification of this occurrence by public inquiry…
NRC, Nov. 12, 2014: Hydrogen fluoride gas… was visible emanating from the building.
ABC 3, Oct. 28, 2014: A leak… has residents concerned for their safety… Company officials say there’s nothing to be worried about, but neighbors and plant union workers think it’s more serious than they’re letting on… Heather Cremeens lives less than a block from the plant… Throughout the years, she’s seen a few releases… but nothing this big.
Heather Cremeens, lives a block away: “I have lived here for 30 years and I have never seenhttp://enenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HW_HC.jpg anything like that before in my life… We grabbed our child… and we took off, we didn’t know what to do… I was shocked they didn’t let us know.”
NBC 6, Oct. 30, 2014: A spokesman tells us the release was contained… But people that live nearby are trying to figure out what was that large cloud blowing away… Gary Cameron… says the hour-long release Sunday night was different.
Gary Cameron, 30 years living a mile away: “It’s ridiculous, they have these leaks and they say it’s contained every time. It’s not contained — everybody stood there and watched it.”
John Smith, worker: “Water’s heavier than air [and] going to sink… HF vapor is lighter than air, it’s going to move up, the cloud leaving the facility was definitely moving horizontal and up”
ABC 3, Oct. 28, 2014: Neighbors have reported there was a heavy metallic smell in the air.
Stephen Lech, union president: “Smoke [was] billowing from… the building… 7 minutes after the release started, the mitigation towers began… An impossibility [the cloud was water]. The spray towers [are] large, they look a lot like a fire stream… Honeywell’s explanation is that fog [is] water vapor… that’s just not a possibility. We expect Honeywell to come clean.”
Lech: “The company refused to warn the community and told responders that the release was contained to their building and the cloud was water… We believe this video shows that the release was out of control and went on for almost 6 minutes before the spray towers were activated (5:46 in the video). We believe Honeywell has lied to the community.”
Watch the video here

Published: November 17th, 2014 at 10:40 am ET

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Community Leader near Fukushima: “It’s our duty to ensure an accident like this never happens again… by eliminating nuclear power” (VIDEOS) October 25, 2011

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West Coast Scientists: Many animals on sea floor looking sick or dead — “Everything’s dying… Dead, dead, dead, and dead” — Experts investigate what’s killing sea urchins and cucumbers in Pacific Northwest — “Seeing things never previously observed” (PHOTOS)

Published: November 18th, 2014 at 12:59 pm ET
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National Geographic, Nov 17, 2014 (emphasis added): Urchins and cucumbers seemed to have escaped the ill effects of the virus until now. But in recent weeks, reports have started to come in that they too are dying along beaches in the Pacific Northwest, Hewson said… [He and his team are] studying the urchins and sea cucumbers that are already dying to see if the same killer is responsible.
Dr. Bill Bushing, kelp forest ecologist, Nov 2, 2014: I’ve mentioned before that [in Southern California] our starfish and sea urchins have been dying… I’ve recently seen sea cucumbers that appear to be diseased as well… I’ve also observed strangely colored sea hares (big shell-less snails) in the park. The red algae they normally eat seems to have died out… Divers also report seeing far fewer of the sea hares this year.
Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, marine biologist, Nov 10, 2014: Jan Kocian, diving photographer extraordinare… has been actively surveying several marine subtidal areas in northern Puget Sound for some time… [During a Sept. 18] dive… on Whidbey Island, Washington… he started seeing things he had never previously observed.… there were many animals lying exposed on the sandy sea floor, looking limp, sick or dead. Red sea cucumbers were flaccid and dead… Aleutian Moon snails were in odd postures… pink/yellow worms [were] another rare or unusual sight…. Nuttall’s cockles were on the sediment surface with their siphons out, instead of being buried… 22nd http://enenews.com/wp-content/upload...n_Cucumber.jpgSeptember, the area containing dying animals was not only still present it was spreading; whatever seemed to be the cause was still doing its dirty work… 25th September [many] red sea cucumbers… were lying fully exposed, and apparently dead… 29th of September… A few living Cucumaria were acting oddly, not quite dead, but just slightly responsive to touch… Numerous green sea urchins were found with their spines in abnormal postures, definitely not looking healthy… The full extent of the dead area, and the reason for the mortality, remain indeterminate.
Captions to photos taken by diver Jan Kocian: (3) Death of the sea urchins; (4) [Red sea cucumber] Cucumaria miniata dying and decomposing [alt text on photo: "Everything's dying"]; (5) Dead, dead, dead, and dead – or dying
See all of the published photos from the dive surveys here

Published: November 18th, 2014 at 12:59 pm ET
By ENENews

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‘Bizarre creature’ turned 50 miles of California coast into graveyard in summer 2011 — Gov’t Biologist: Die-off like this never seen here — “Abalone massacre… carcasses of urchins, starfish, other mollusks” — Experts find “alterations in 30 genes, some unknown to science” — “Suddenly proliferating… killing wildlife” (PHOTO) May 12, 2014

November 18th, 2014 | Category: Canada, US, West Coast

Experts: Seemingly benign virus on West Coast causing “ecological upheaval the likes of which we’ve never seen” — Very peculiar, different from all known viruses — Mutations could be helping it spread — Something may have recently caused it to go rogue… we’ve never seen anything like this — Why now, what changed to allow outbreak? (VIDEO)

Published: November 18th, 2014 at 6:58 am ET
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NBC News (emphasis added): Scientists may have fingered the culprit responsible for a mysterious epidemic that has killed millions of starfish… the disease was a relatively common parvovirus found in invertebrates that rose to epidemic levels due to overpopulation, a genetic mutation or other unknown environmental factors.
PBS: Scientists… said it’s a virus that’s different from all other known viruses infecting marine organisms [and] don’t yet know what sparked the seemingly benign virus to transform into the perpetrator of what’s considered the largest marine disease outbreak ever…
National Geographic: The virus [is] quite common. [Cornell professor Ian Hewson, lead author of the study, said] “It’s been around for 70 years [and] probably present all over the world.”… Why such a pervasive virus is suddenly killing millions of animals is still up for debate… Previous events [were in] one or two species, but the virus is now infecting 20. It’s unusual for a single type of virus… But mutations in a key part of a virus… can help the infection spread to more species, the study authors write…
Hewson: “It is very peculiar to find a virus [infecting] such large numbers of species.”
Reuters: The researchers detected it in… specimens from as early as 1942. They said it may have been present at low levels for years and only recently became a large-scale threat due to some kind of viral mutation, environmental trigger, starfish overpopulation or other factor.
AP: Hewson adds they don’t know yet what triggered the outbreak of the virus… He said it could be related to… a change in the virus, or changes in the environment.
National Geographic: [Hewson] suspects that the virus may not actually cause the symptoms… [it may] disrupt the sea stars’ ability to control the bacteria that they normally co-exist with… Why is the current outbreak… so dramatic when [virus] is actually an old presence?

Dr. Pete Raimondi, study author: “Something may have happened recently that caused [virus] to go rogue, because we’ve never seen anything like current outbreak“
Amanda Bates, Univ. of Southampton: “[The virus] has been living with sea stars for over seven decades without causing the large-scale mass mortality of the past two years… we still don’t know why such a large number of sea stars over such a wide geographic area have succumbed to this disease. Has the virus changed to be more virulent, or deadly? Perhaps something in the environment has shifted.”
Dr. Mike Murray, Monterey Bay Aquarium: “It provides a… place to start and say, ‘OK, we found this virus in lots of sea stars. What was the trigger? What started it all off? Are there other problems in other species? [This] may or may not have a human basis”
Dr. Ian Lipkin, Columbia Univ., pathogen discovery specialist: “The authors… note themselves, there is much more work to be done before we will know whether the densovirus they describe is necessary and sufficient to cause disease.”
Vincent Racaniello, Columbia Univ. virologist: “The crucial experiment that remains… is to… inoculate [the virus] into sea stars, and show that it causes wasting disease.”
Drew Harvell, Cornell ecologist: “The million-dollar question in all this: Why now? What is it that changed that created the conditions for this outbreak? And we don’t have the answer to that. But certainly a viral mutation would be one explanation.”
Carol Blanchette, Univ. of Santa Barbara: “It is likely that… environmental causes… have played an important role [and the virus] may only be one part of the story.”
Harvell: “Their disappearance is an experiment in ecological upheaval the likes of which we’ve never seen.”
Watch an interview with lead author Hewson here

Published: November 18th, 2014 at 6:58 am ET

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