Posted on 05/29/2012 1:19:06 PM PDT by ransomnote
Full title (was truncated because didn't fit FR limits):
Stanford Researchers Found Radioactive Cesium of Fukushima Origin in Pacific Bluefin Tuna Off California Coast The researchers from Stanford University, California caught 15 tuna fish off the coast of southern California last August and measured radioactive cesium-134 and -137. Nine months later, it is in the news now that their research paper has finally been published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Neither the Wall Street Journal article below, or Reuters', mentions the exact numbers for radioactive cesium, but Japan's Kyodo News does:
Cesium-134: 4 Bq/kg Cesium-137: 6.3 Bq/kg
The Stanford researchers think the fish were in the Japanese water about a month after the accident started. Daniel Madigan, who led the study, said they were surprised to find cesium at all, and that it was found in all samples they collected and tested.
Wall Street Journal says the added radioactivity is about 3% of the naturally occurring radioactivity in the fish, and Reuters converts becquerels into curie to put things in perspective saying "It takes 37 billion becquerels to equal 1 curie".
Well, at least the Japanese media, MSM or alternative, has gotten comfortable over the last year quoting the measured numbers instead of trying to put them in perspective without mentioning the numbers.
(Excerpt) Read more at ex-skf.blogspot.com ...
“Wall Street Journal says the added radioactivity is about 3% of the naturally occurring radioactivity in the fish, and Reuters converts becquerels into curie to put things in perspective saying “It takes 37 billion becquerels to equal 1 curie”
IOW — next to nothing. At least they admitted it; but, it belies the headline.
Modern instruments can detect the tiniest fraction, of a scintilla of just about anything. It provides an endless source of apocalyptic (and completely misleading) headlines.
—Wall Street Journal says the added radioactivity is about 3% of the naturally occurring radioactivity in the fish—
The money quote.
The Title of the article is perfect. Tuna have physically carried the nuclear contamination particles across the Pacific much faster then just Pacific currents could have. The tuna they tested were caught back in August 2011. Yes, levels are low, but the Tuna had just swam up the east coast of Japan. Now imagine what the levels are in fish that live their entire lives along the east coast of Japan.
as long as my sushi remains raw I’ll be happy
You could say that the title was “real but inaccurate”.
If every threat were as serious as we could imagine; we’d all be dead.
The researchers were surprised to find any cesium in the fish at all and again surprised to find it in every fish they tested. Some people will find it of interest because pollutants often concentrate in the food chain so over time, more and more sea life is likely to contain more radiation.
What about nori (seaweed) or other types of fish aside from tuna? Most of the tuna you and I east has not been and will not be tested. SO going forward, increasing levels of radiation will not be revealed.
Here’s the money quote “The amount of cesium 137 was five times as much as the background level, leftover from nuclear weapons testing decades ago.”
See? Nuclear weapons testing established the baseline and nuclear industry incompetence elevated it by a factor of 5.
Oh I know the pro nuke reply will be “You’re welcome.”
And personally, I object to nuclear power management incompetence and the way it continues to elevate the risk of cancer and numerous other ailments SILENTLY (no acceptance of responsibility). But that’s just me.
The seaweed is at the bottom of the food chain. It's eaten by various sea creatures; which, in turn, are eaten by other creatures. Each step up the food chain concentrates the Cesium — until we get to the tuna. Large, carnivorous fish contain many, many times greater concentration of whatever contaminate is being measured. Even in the case of the tuna, the amounts of cesium detected are small.
To say that something was found in tuna (or whatever), is not the same as saying that the amounts are dangerous to human health. It's certainly not the same as saying that the amounts found at the bottom of the food chain are dangerous.
So you understand why the amount of cesium found in food fish like tuna can be expected to increase - the increasing concentration of Fukushima cesium in the food chain has just begun.
I pointed to nori to say that if tuna off the coast of CA contain increased levels of material known to damage human health, just imagine the area local to Japan where they harvest nori - so the people of Japan may ingest some radiation in nori, some in tuna, some in vegetables, beef etc. This as all cumulative. And consuming small amounts of radioactive waste is harmful to human health, but to a small, cumulative degree. And this will continue to increase over time.
PS: Adds further impetus to investigate reports of whales beaching themselves with lesions and other symptoms which may be attributed to radiation exposure.
Yep - and I know for a stone cold fact that the Venushans have been avoiding the airspace over Japan ever since the Tsunami - and those aliens ain’t no dummies! Gotta be a reason for it...
Modern instruments are able to detect and quantify extremely tiny concentrations of Cesium. That was my original point — a detectable amount is not the same as a dangerous amount. The amounts detected need to be compared to the normal background levels; and both the background levels and the new additions need to be compared against generally accepted health standards. Otherwise, it's just fear mongering.
If you gave the boy who cried wolf a powerful spotting scope, he could spot wolves several miles away. When he cried “WOLF!”, he wouldn't exactly be lying — but, nor would he be telling the whole truth about the danger level.
No one would argue that radioactive contamination should be treated lightly. OTOH, there's a lot of antinuclear propaganda being put out; and reality checks are necessary to sort out the cries of wolf, from the actual wolfs.
“...The authors found that the fish contained modestly elevated levels of radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137; by contrast, pre-Fukushima bluefin tuna, which migrated from Japan to California before the Fukushima disaster, and post-Fukushima yellowfin tuna, which primarily inhabit the Eastern Pacific Ocean, had no measurable cesium-134 and only background levels of cesium-137. Because cesium-134 was undetectable in Pacific Ocean seawater and marine life before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, the findings suggested to the authors that the radioactivity in the post-Fukushima bluefin tuna derived from the Fukushima discharge. The authors emphasize that the elevated radioactivity in the 2011 bluefin tuna should not endanger public health as the reported radiocesium levels are more than an order of magnitude lower than the Japanese safety limit, and provide lower doses of radiation than other isotopes naturally present in the fish, such as potassium-40, which showed comparable levels in all tested fish. The findings reveal a potentially useful tool to trace the migration patterns of marine species, according to the authors.
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Article #12-04859: “Pacific bluefin tuna transport Fukushima-derived radionuclides from Japan to California,” by Daniel J. Madigan, Zofia Baumann, and Nicholas S. Fisher”
Cool. the 134 will be available as a ‘marker’... for a very few years (2 year half life).
Marine scientists thank Fukushima for this advancement of their science!
The title of this article does not say dangerous. You are reading dangerous as a knee jerk reaction. That reaction is due to your denial of Fukushima radiation spreading around the world. It is happening and cannot be stopped. Denial of that fact right now is counter productive.
Do you have a scientific article to back up your claim ? We do.
Have you seen this?
Fukushima reactor building is bulging, leaning
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/05/west-side-of-the-reactor4-building-bulged/
Fallout map if reactor #4 goes.
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/fukushima-reactor-4-release-would-doom/
Thank you for the links, Jack.
You might be interested in the following thread - especially the last post or two from Justa-HairyApe:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2888277/posts
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