Posted on 03/28/2014 5:48:22 AM PDT by xzins
A Canadian high school student named Bronwyn Delacruz never imagined that her school science project would make headlines all over the world. But that is precisely what has happened. Using a $600 Geiger counter purchased by her father, Delacruz measured seafood bought at local grocery stores for radioactive contamination. What she discovered was absolutely stunning. Much of the seafood, particularly the products that were made in China, tested very high for radiation. So is this being caused by nuclear radiation from Fukushima? Is the seafood that we are eating going to give us cancer and other diseases? The American people deserve the truth, but as you will see below, the U.S. and Canadian governments are not even testing imported seafood for radiation. To say that this is deeply troubling would be a massive understatement.
In fact, what prompted Bronwyn Delacruz to conduct her science project was the fact that the Canadian government stopped testing imported seafood for radiation in 2012…
Alberta high-school student Bronwyn Delacruz loves sushi, but became concerned last summer after learning how little food inspection actually takes place on some of its key ingredients.
The Grade 10 student from Grande Prairie said she was shocked to discover that, in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) stopped testing imported foods for radiation in 2012. And what should be a major red flag for authorities is the fact that the seafood with the highest radiation is coming from China…
Armed with a $600 Geiger counter bought by her dad, Delacruz studied a variety of seafoods – particularly seaweeds – as part of an award-winning science project that she will take to a national fair next month.
“Some of the kelp that I found was higher than what the International Atomic Energy Agency sets as radioactive contamination, which is 1,450 counts over a 10-minute period,” she said. “Some of my samples came up as 1,700 or 1,800.”
Delacruz said the samples that “lit up” the most were products from China that she bought in local grocery stores. It is inexcusable that the Canadian government is not testing this seafood. It isn’t as if they don’t know that it is radioactive. Back in 2012, the Vancouver Sun reported that cesium-137 was being found in a very high percentage of the fish that Japan was selling to Canada…
• 73 percent of the mackerel
• 91 percent of the halibut
• 92 percent of the sardines
• 93 percent of the tuna and eel
• 94 percent of the cod and anchovies
• 100 percent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish
So why was radiation testing for seafood shut down in Canada in 2012?
Someone out there needs to answer some very hard questions.
Meanwhile, PBS reporter Miles O’Brien has pointed out the extreme negligence of the U.S. government when it comes to testing seafood for Fukushima radiation. The following comes from a recent EcoWatch article…
O’Brien also introduces us to scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who have been testing waters around the reactors—as well as around the Pacific Rim—to confirm the levels of Fukushima fallout, especially of cesium.
These scientists are dedicated and competent. But they are also being forced to do this investigation on their own, raising small amounts of money from independent sources. They were, explains lead scientist Ken Buesseler, turned down for even minimal federal support by five agencies key to our radiation protection. Thus, despite a deep and widespread demand for this information, no federal agency is conducting comprehensive, on-the-ground analyses of how much Fukushima radiation has made its way into our air and oceans.
In fact, very soon after Fukushima began to blow, President Obama assured the world that radiation coming to the U.S. would be minuscule and harmless. He had no scientific proof that this would be the case. And as O’Brien’s eight-minute piece shows all too clearly, the “see no evil, pay no damages” ethos is at work here. The government is doing no monitoring of radiation levels in fish, and information on contamination of the ocean is almost entirely generated by underfunded researchers like Buesseler. A video news report in which O’Brien discusses these issues is posted below…
It is the job of the authorities to keep us safe, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster was the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
So why aren’t they doing testing?
Why aren’t they checking to make sure that this radiation is not getting into our food chain?
The Japanese are doing testing off the coast of Japan, and one fish that was recently caught off the coast of the Fukushima prefecture was discovered to have 124 times the safe level of radioactive cesium.
So why are all the authorities in North America just assuming that the fish are going to be perfectly fine on this side of the Pacific?
One test that was conducted in California discovered that 15 out of 15 Bluefin tuna were contaminated with radiation from Fukushima.
So how can the authorities say “don’t worry, just eat the seafood”?
Everyone agrees that a plume of radioactive water has been moving from Fukushima toward the west coast of the United States.
According to researchers at the University of South Wales, that plume is going to hit our shores at some point during 2014…
The first radioactive ocean plume released by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster will finally be reaching the shores of the United States some time in 2014, according to a new study from the University of New South Wales — a full three or so years after the date of the disaster. The following graphic comes from that study…
And multiple independent tests have already confirmed that levels of nuclear radiation are being detected on California beaches that are more than 10 times the normal level.
Clearly something is happening.
So why are the U.S. and Canadian governments willingly looking the other way?
CURIOUS
• 73 percent of the mackerel
• 91 percent of the halibut
• 92 percent of the sardines
• 93 percent of the tuna and eel
• 94 percent of the cod and anchovies
• 100 percent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish
OK, I bite. What level of radiation did she detect with the Geiger Counter?
You do know that there are many places with background radiation that is certainly detectable.
Not all radio active material is dangerous and not all of it comes from broken nuke reactors.
I am not discounting the danger. It is clear that the Japanese government is lying about how bad it really is. But lets not all quit eating fish because of the perceived threat.
Remember “mad cow disease”? Remember the “swine flue” threat under Jimmy “the goober” Carter?
Is a real study in order? Probably
If I can get to the sea food store I buy local here in New England
I dont eat anything from China.
My experince is that almost every bit of seafood in the frozen foods section is from China.
I have found some decent flash frozen dolphin(mahi-mahi) and tuna from S America I will stick with that.
Look at your garlic labels too.Its almost all from the Chi-Coms.
No baseline? Did the student test fish from a river in North America? Something that would never have touched the ocean? How about the Atlantic? Did she test fish caught in the Gulf of Mexico? As has already been asked, what were the readings, and how do they know if it came from the Japanese plant?
Agree. I stopped eating edemame because it is all from China. The Chinese garlic is a big problem as well. Never eat fish from China, Vietnam, all those places.
Much of this article is hooey.
Here is a website with just about everything you need to know about the radiation threat from Japan.
http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/
Why are the governments hiding this info...
panic
Same ocean is the way I figure it.Cant imagine whats put on food thats grown in the soil....
Not to discount your good questions, but I was in Europe during the last mad cow scare and now I can’t donate blood. It’s weird, and the chances are infinitesimal. Guess I’m glad they’re protecting the blood supply...but the gays...with HIV MUCH MORE likely than mad cow are politically agitating to again donate blood. It’s all insane.
Anyone who eats seafood right now is trying to die young.
Don't be so sure. The labeling is less than accurate. Food is laundered just like money.
Knowing that American consumers would be loathe to purchase beef from China, a company can import the Chinese product to say Argentina, and then export from Argentina to the U.S. with the label "Product of Argentina".
Are "California Almonds" really grown in California? All we really know is that they were sold as a commodity in California before being processed/packaged. An enterprising importer might purchase Chinese Almonds and then sell them as new crop product in California. The FDA is far more worried about someone, somewhere buying fresh milk directly from a local farmer, than they are about nefarious importing and relabeling.
I try to just purchase fresh food, but its tough.
I don’t expect a lot of understanding of control groups, etc., from high school science projects. I think the issue is the readings were much higher than expected.
Hopefully, honest scientists without either a government or an industry bias get inspired to do some testing.
I'm old enough to remember when the US government actually looked out for your best interests.
Seems Pacific cod has been on sale throughout Lent at low, low prices this year.
In any case, I like fishing. I prefer freshwater fish, bass, trout, crappie. When buying fish at the store cod and grouper from saltwater are my favorites.
Insane indeed. It is the nature of bureaucraps.
Same ocean. But do some research on 'farm' raised fish. Close to fishing in a sewer. Or the shrimp farm that is under a chicken coop. They found an interesting way to dispose of chicken dropings.
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