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Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Caught Off California Coast
1. Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Caught Off
California Coast
Source of Article Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Caught Off California Coast
Every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has shown to be contaminated with radiation
that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.
Over a year ago, in May of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported on a Stanford University study.
Daniel Madigan, a marine ecologist who led the study, was quoted as saying, “The tuna packaged it
up (the radiation) and brought it across the world’s largest ocean. We were definitely surprised to
see it at all and even more surprised to see it in every one we measured.”
Another member of the study group, Marine biologist Nicholas Fisher at Stony Brook University in
New York State reported, “We found that absolutely every one of them had comparable
concentrations of cesium 134 and cesium 137.”
That was over a year ago. The fish that were tested had relatively little exposure to the radioactive
waste being dumped into the ocean following the nuclear melt-through that occurred at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant in March of 2011. Since that time, the flow of radioactive contaminants
2. dumping into the ocean has continued unabated. Fish arriving at this juncture have been swimming
in contaminants for all of their lives.
Radioactive cesium doesn’t sink to the sea floor, so fish swim through it and ingest it through their
gills or by eating organisms that have already ingested it. It is a compound that does occur naturally
in nature, however, the levels of cesium found in the tuna in 2012 had levels 3 percent higher than is
usual. Measurements for this year haven’t been made available, or at least none that I have been
able to find. I went looking for the effects of ingesting cesium. This is what I found:
When contact with radioactive cesium occurs, which is highly unlikely, a person can experience
cell damage due to radiation of the cesium particles. Due to this, effects such as nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea and bleeding may occur. When the exposure lasts a long time, people may even lose
consciousness. Coma or even death may then follow. How serious the effects are depends upon the
resistance of individual persons and the duration of exposure and the concentration a person is
exposed to.
The half life of cesium 134 is 2.0652 years. For cesium 137, the half life is 30.17 years.
The Fukushima disaster is an ongoing battle with no signs that humans are gaining the upper hand.
The only good news to come out of Japan has later been proven to be false and was nothing more
than attempts by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to mislead the public and lull them into a
sense of security while the company searched vainly for ways to contain the accident. This incident
makes Three Mile Island and Chernobyl pale in comparison. Those were nuclear meltdowns. A
nuclear melt-through poses a much more serious problem and is one that modern technology
doesn’t have the tools to address. Two and a half years later and the contaminants are still flowing
into the ocean and will continue to for the foreseeable future.
The FDA assures us that our food supply is safe, that the levels of radiation found in fish samples are
within safe limits for consumption. But one has to question if this is true and, if it is true now, will it
remain true? Is this, like the statements issued from TEPCO, another attempt to quell a public
backlash in the face of an unprecedented event that, as yet, has no solution and no end in sight?
As for me, fish is off the menu.