“They’re All Gone”: Shock as sardines vanish off California — Fishermen didn’t find a single one all summer

[Steven Gaal]

Fukushima Radiation Found In Tap Water Around Japan

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http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14751

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May 18th, 2015 | Add a Comment

Testing conducted in February and March of 2015 found cesium in many tap water samples collected around Japan. While the numbers were fairly low it is still a persistent problem since tap water is used in some way in everything that is consumed. In the readings, Tokyo had higher tap water contamination levels than Fukushima City.

One reading that may cause confusion is the reading for Ichihara Chiba. It indicated iodine 131 was found in that tap water sample. That contamination would not be from Fukushima Daiichi. The reading is isolated, no other cities found iodine 131 in their water. If it had somehow been from Fukushima Daiichi, readings would have been found in areas closer to the plant. Iodine 131 has a short half life, any contamination decays away over a few weeks. This same problem was encountered in the US soon after the disaster were iodine 131 was being found in some east coast municipal water supplies. At the time it was unlikely to be directly due to fallout from Fukushima Daiichi as too much time had passed. What may be happening is linked to medical treatments.

People receiving iodine 131 radiation therapy treatments, used for certain thyroid disorders excrete the substance in their urine. Most hospitals use containment systems for waste water from radiation therapy patient wards. This is intended to allow any iodine 131 in the waste water to decay away. If a containment system is not used or not properly operating, iodine 131 can flow into waste treatment plants and eventually to the waterways. In the US patients are frequently sent home quite early while they are still radioactive and shedding iodine 131 in their urine. This directly adds contamination to waste water.

If that treated waste water is released into a water way and picked up soon enough downstream it could then contaminate public drinking water supplies. Ichihara Chiba Hospital does have a department that does iodine 131 treatments. So this may be another case of looking for Fukushima related radiation and finding some other radiation cause by accident.

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reproduced in fair use

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Guardian: Pacific Ocean “turning into a desert” off California — Experts: Entire generation of baby sea lions is dying; It’s incredible, it’s so unusual and there’s no good explanation for it; Expect same thing to happen again next year — Carts filled with emaciated dead bodies (PHOTOS)

http://enenews.com/guardian-pacific-ocean-turning-desert-california-expert-entire-generation-baby-sea-lions-dying-carts-filled-dead-bodies-photos

Edited May 19, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

“The Ocean is Dying”: Marine and Animal Life Die Offs, California Coast

Pacific Ocean is “Turning Into a Desert”

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http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ocean-is-dying-marine-and-animal-life-die-offs-california-coast/5451836

]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] SEE link for video

It was the dying cry of Charlton Heston in the creepy 1973 film Soylent Green… and it could resemble our desperate near future.

The ocean is dying, by all accounts – and if so, the food supply along with it. The causes are numerous, and overlapping. And massive numbers of wild animal populations are dying as a result of it.

Natural causes in the environment are partly to blame; so too are the corporations of man; the effects of Fukushima, unleashing untold levels of radiation into the ocean and onto Pacific shores; the cumulative effect of modern chemicals and agricultural waste tainting the water and disrupting reproduction.

A startling new report says in no uncertain terms that the Pacific Ocean off the California coast is turning into a desert. Once full of life, it is now becoming barren, and marine mammals, seabirds and fish are starving as a result. According to Ocean Health:

The waters of the Pacific off the coast of California are a clear, shimmering blue today, so transparent it’s possible to see the sandy bottom below […] clear water is a sign that the ocean is turning into a desert, and the chain reaction that causes that bitter clarity is perhaps most obvious on the beaches of the Golden State, where thousands of emaciated sea lion pups are stranded.

[…]

Over the last three years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has noticed a growing number of strandings on the beaches of California and up into the Pacific north-west. In 2013, 1,171 sea lions were stranded, and 2,700 have already stranded in 2015 – a sign that something is seriously wrong, as pups don’t normally wind up on their own until later in the spring and early summer.

“[An unusually large number of sea lions stranding in 2013 was a red flag] there was a food availability problem even before the ocean got warm.”Johnson: This has never happened before… It’s incredible. It’s so unusual, and there’s no really good explanation for it. There’s also a good chance that the problem will continue, said a NOAA research scientist in climatology, Nate Mantua.

Experts blame a lack of food due to unusually warm ocean waters. NOAA declared an El Nino, the weather pattern that warms the Pacific, a few weeks ago. The water is three and a half to six degrees warmer than the average, according to Mantua, because of a lack of north wind on the West Coast. Ordinarily, the north wind drives the current, creating upwelling that brings forth the nutrients that feed the sardines, anchovies and other fish that adult sea lions feed on.

Fox News added:

The warm water is likely pushing prime sea lion foods — market squid, sardines and anchovies — further north, forcing the mothers to abandon their pups for up to eight days at a time in search of sustenance.

The pups, scientists believe, are weaning themselves early out of desperation and setting out on their own despite being underweight and ill-prepared to hunt.

[…]

“These animals are coming in really desperate. They’re at the end of life. They’re in a crisis … and not all animals are going to make it,” said Keith A. Matassa, executive director at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which is currently rehabilitating 115 sea lion pups.

The same is true of seabirds on the Washington State coast:

In the storm debris littering a Washington State shoreline, Bonnie Wood saw something grisly: the mangled bodies of dozens of scraggly young seabirds. Walking half a mile along the beach at Twin Harbors State Park on Wednesday, Wood spotted more than 130 carcasses of juvenile Cassin’s auklets—the blue-footed, palm-size victims of what is becoming one of the largest mass die-offs of seabirds ever recorded. “It was so distressing,” recalled Wood, a volunteer who patrols Pacific Northwest beaches looking for dead or stranded birds. “They were just everywhere. Every ten yards we’d find another ten bodies of these sweet little things.”

“This is just massive, massive, unprecedented,” said Julia Parrish, a University of Washington seabird ecologist who oversees the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a program that has tracked West Coast seabird deaths for almost 20 years. “We may be talking about 50,000 to 100,000 deaths. So far.” (source)

100,000 doesn’t necessarily sound large, statistically speaking, but precedent in the history of recorded animal deaths suggests that it is, in fact massive. Even National Geographic is noting that these die off events are “unprecedented.” Warmer water is indicated for much of the starvation faced by many of the dead animals.

Last year, scientists sounded the alarm over the death of millions of star fish, blamed on warmer waters and ‘mystery virus’:

Starfish are dying by the millions up and down the West Coast, leading scientists to warn of the possibility of localized extinction of some species. As the disease spreads, researchers may be zeroing in on a link between warming waters and the rising starfish body count. (source)

[…]

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. (source)

Changing temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, driven by the natural cycle of gyres over decades, shifts wildlife populations, decimating the populations of species throughout the food chain, proving how fragile the balance of life in the ocean really is.

Recently, the collapse of the sardine population has created a crisis for fisheries and marine wildlife alike on the West Coast:

Commercial fishing for sardines off of Canada’s West Coast is worth an estimated $32 million – but now they are suddenly gone. Back in October, fisherman reported that they came back empty-handed without a single fish after 12 hours of trolling and some $1000 spent on fuel.

Sandy Mazza, for the Daily Breeze, reported a similar phenomenon in central California: “[T]he fickle sardines have been so abundant for so many years – sometimes holding court as the most plentiful fish in coastal waters – that it was a shock when he couldn’t find one of the shiny silver-blue coastal fish all summer, even though this isn’t the first time they’ve vanished.” [emphasis added]

[…]
“Is it El Nino? Pacific Decadal Oscillation? [La] Nina? Long-term climate change? More marine mammals eating sardines? Did they all go to Mexico or farther offshore? We don’t know. We’re pretty sure the overall population has declined. We manage them pretty conservatively because we don’t want to end up with another Cannery Row so, as the population declines, we curb fishing.” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official Kerry Griffin. (source)

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the worst events have wiped out 90% of animal populations, falling short of extinction, but creating a rupture in food chains and ecosystems.

And environmental factors are known to be a factor, with pollution from chemicals dumped by factories clearly tied to at least 20% of the mass die off events of wildlife populations that have been investigated, and many die offs implicated by a number of overlapping factors. TheDaily Mail reported:

Mass die-offs of certain animals has increased in frequency every year for seven decades, according to a new study.

Researchers found that such events, which can kill more than 90 per cent of a population, are increasing among birds, fish and marine invertebrates.

The reasons for the die-offs are diverse, with effects tied to humans such as environmental contamination accounting for about a fifth of them.

Farm runoff from Big Agra introduces high levels of fertilizers and pesticides which createoxygen-starved dead zones which fish and aquatic live is killed off. Also preset in agriculture waste are gender bending chemicals like those found in Atrazine, used in staple crop production, and antibiotics and hormones, used in livestock production, which creates hazardous runoff for fish populations:

Livestock excrete natural hormones – estrogens and testosterones – as well as synthetic ones used to bolster their growth. Depending on concentrations and fish sensitivity, these hormones and hormone mimics might impair wild fish reproduction or skew their sex ratios. (source)

Pharmaceutical contaminants are also to blame for changing the sex of fish and disrupting population numbers, while a study found that the chemicals in Prozac changed the behavior of marine life, and made shrimp many times more likely to “commit suicide” and swim towards the light where they became easy prey.

Fish farms also introduce a large volume of antibiotic and chemical pollution into oceans and waterways:

The close quarters where farmed fish are raised (combined with their unnatural diets) means disease occurs often and can spread quickly. On fish farms, which are basically “CAFOs of the sea,” antibiotics are dispersed into the water, and sometimes injected directly into the fish.

Unfortunately, farmed fish are often raised in pens in the ocean, which means not only that pathogens can spread like wildfire and contaminate any wild fish swimming past – but the antibiotics can also spread to wild fish (via aquaculture and wastewater runoff) – and that’s exactly what recent research revealed. (source)

Mass die offs of fish on the Brazilian coastline have linked to pollution from the dumping of raw sewage and garbage.

In the last few days it was reported that a massive die off of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico was connected by researchers to BP’s Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Evidence was found in a third of the cases of lesions in the adrenal gland, an otherwise rare condition linked with petroleum exposure. More than a fifth of the dolphins also suffered bacterial pneumonia, causing deadly lung infection that is likewise rarely seen in dolphin populations.

[Steven Gaal]

Officials: ‘Nuclear fuel material’ leak at Fukushima — Japan TV: Record levels of radioactivity detected in seawater — Spiked “more than 200 times” at sampling location — Highest concentrations ever measured in 11 different areas (VIDEO)

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MAY 31 2015

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http://enenews.com/japan-tv-record-levels-radioactivity-seawater-fukushima-nuclear-fuel-material-leaked-highest-concentrations-detected-12-different-locations-during-month-video

[Steven Gaal]

West Coast of North America to be Slammed by 2016 with 80% As Much Fukushima Radiation As Japan

June 11, 2015

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https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/no_author/west-coast-of-north-america-to-be-slammed-by-2016/

[Steven Gaal]

Japan Scientists: High radiation levels near West Coast after Fukushima disaster — Almost 30 Bq/m3 of cesium offshore — Secret documents reveal US gov’t previously ordered radiation test results in Pacific be hidden to avoid contamination fears

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http://enenews.com/japan-scientists-high-radiation-levels-west-coast-after-fukushima-disaster-almost-30-bqm3-cesium-offshore-secret-documents-reveal-govt-ordered-radiation-test-results-pacific-be-hidden-avoid-cont

[Steven Gaal]

NBC: Sea creatures swarming ashore from San Diego to San Fran. — CBS: Millions of dead blanketing miles of coastline, “like a red carpet… 12-16 inches thick… never seen anything like this” — ABC: We wonder if they’re sick, or it’s something in ocean? Scientists don’t have an explanation (PICS & VIDEO)

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http://enenews.com/nbc-sea-creatures-swarming-ashore-san-diego-san-francisco-cbs-millions-dead-crabs-blanketing-miles-shoreline-like-red-carpet-foot-to16-inches-thick-ive-never-anything-like-abc-wondering-whats-wr

[Steven Gaal]

The Fukushima Cover-Up

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http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Fukushima_Cover-Up/44657/0/38/38/Y/M.html

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Robert Hunziker writes at CounterPunch:

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Fukushima will likely go down in history as the biggest cover-up of the 21st Century. Governments and corporations are not leveling with citizens about the risks and dangers; similarly, truth itself, as an ethical standard, is at risk of going to shambles as the glue that holds together the trust and belief in society’s institutions. Ultimately, this is an example of how societies fail.

Tens of thousands of Fukushima residents remain in temporary housing more than four years after the horrific disaster of March 2011. Some areas on the outskirts of Fukushima have officially reopened to former residents, but many of those former residents are reluctant to return home because of widespread distrust of government claims that it is okay and safe.

Part of this reluctance has to do with radiation’s symptoms. It is insidious because it cannot be detected by human senses. People are not biologically equipped to feel its power, or see, or hear, touch or smell it (Caldicott). Not only that, it slowly accumulates over time in a dastardly fashion that serves to hide its effects until it is too late.

…

In late 2014, Helen Caldicott, M.D. gave a speech about Fukushima at Seattle Town Hall (9/28/14). Pirate Television recorded her speech; here’s the link:

Dr. Helen Caldicott is co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and she is author/editor of Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, The New Press, September 2014. For over four decades Dr. Caldicott has been the embodiment of the anti-nuclear banner, and as such, many people around the world classify her as a “national treasure”. She’s truthful and honest and knowledgeable.

Fukushima is literally a time bomb in quiescence. Another powerful quake and all hell could break loose. Also, it is not even close to being under control. Rather, it is totally out of control. According to Dr. Caldicott, “It’s still possible that Tokyo may have to be evacuated, depending upon how things go.” Imagine that!

According to Japan Times as of March 11, 2015: “There have been quite a few accidents and problems at the Fukushima plant in the past year, and we need to face the reality that they are causing anxiety and anger among people in Fukushima, as explained by Shunichi Tanaka at the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Furthermore, Mr. Tanaka said, there are numerous risks that could cause various accidents and problems.”

Even more ominously, Seiichi Mizuno, a former member of Japan’s House of Councillors (Upper House of Parliament, 1995-2001) in March 2015 said: “The biggest problem is the melt-through of reactor cores… We have groundwater contamination… The idea that the contaminated water is somehow blocked in the harbor is especially absurd. It is leaking directly into the ocean. There’s evidence of more than 40 known hotspot areas where extremely contaminated water is flowing directly into the ocean… We face huge problems with no prospect of solution.” (Source: Nuclear Hotseat #194: Fukushima 4th Anniversary – Voices from Japan, March 10, 2015, http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/2468/)

At Fukushima, each reactor required one million gallons of water per minute for cooling, but when the tsunami hit, the backup diesel generators were drowned. Units 1, 2, and 3 had meltdowns within days. There were four hydrogen explosions. Thereafter, the melting cores burrowed into the container vessels, maybe into the earth.

According to Dr. Caldicott, “One hundred tons of terribly hot radioactive lava has already gone into the earth or somewhere within the container vessels, which are all cracked and broken.” Nobody really knows for sure where the hot radioactive lava resides. The scary unanswered question: Is it the China Syndrome?

Following the meltdown, the Japanese government did not inform people of the ambient levels of radiation that blew back onto the island. Unfortunately and mistakenly, people fled away from the reactors to the highest radiation levels on the island at the time.

As the disaster happened, enormous levels of radiation hit Tokyo. The highest radiation detected in the Tokyo Metro area was in Saitama with cesium radiation levels detected at 919,000 becquerel (Bq) per square meter, a level almost twice as high as Chernobyl’s “permanent dead zone evacuation limit of 500,000 Bq” (source: Radiation Defense Project). For that reason, Dr. Caldicott strongly advises against travel to Japan and recommends avoiding Japanese food.

Even so, post the Fukushima disaster, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an agreement with Japan that the U.S. would continue importing Japanese foodstuff. Therefore, Dr. Caldicott suggests people not vote for Hillary Clinton. One reckless dangerous precedent is enough for her.

According to Arnie Gundersen, an energy advisor with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, as reported in The Canadian on August 15, 2011: “The US government has come up with a decision at the highest levels of the State Department, as well as other departments who made a decision to downplay Fukushima. In April, the month after the powerful tsunami and earthquake crippled Japan including its nuclear power plant, Hillary Clinton signed a pact with Japan that she agreed there is no problem with Japanese food supply and we will continue to buy them. So, we are not sampling food coming in from Japan.”

However, in stark contrast to the United States, in Europe Angela Merkel, PhD physics, University of Leipzig and current chancellor of Germany is shutting down all nuclear reactors because of Fukushima.

Maybe an advanced degree in physics makes the difference in how a leader approaches the nuclear power issue. It certainly looks that way when comparing/contrasting the two pantsuit-wearing leaders, Chancellor Merkel and former secretary of state Clinton.

After the Fukushima blow up, ambient levels of radiation in Washington State went up 40,000 times above normal, but according to Dr. Caldicott, the U.S. media does not cover the “ongoing Fukushima mess.” So, who would really know?

Dr. Caldicott ended her speech on Sept. 2014 by saying: “In Fukushima, it is not over. Everyday, four hundred tons of highly radioactive water pours into the Pacific and heads towards the U.S. Because the radiation accumulates in fish, we get that too. The U.S. government is not testing the water, not testing the fish, and not testing the ambient air. Also, people in Japan are eating radiation every day.”

Furthermore, according to Dr. Caldicott: “Rainwater washes over the nuclear cores into the Pacific. There is no way they can get to those cores, men die, robots get fried. Fukushima will never be solved. Meanwhile, people are still living in highly radioactive areas.”

Fukushima will never be solved because “men die” and “robots get fried.” By the sounds of it, Fukushima is a perpetual radiation meltdown scenario that literally sets on the edge of a bottomless doomsday pit, in waiting to be nudged over.

UN All-Clear Report

A UN (UNSCEAR) report on April 2, 2014 on health impacts of the Fukushima accident concluded that any radiation-induced effects would be too small to identify. People were well protected and received “low or very low” radiation doses. UNSCEAR gave an all-clear report.

Rebuttal of the UNSCEAR report by the German affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War d/d July 18, 2014 takes a defiant stance in opposition to the UN report, to wit: “The Fukushima nuclear disaster is far from over. Despite the declaration of ‘cold shutdown’ by the Japanese government in December 2011, the crippled reactors have not yet achieved a stable status and even UNSCEAR admits that emissions of radioisotopes are continuing unabated. 188 TEPCO is struggling with an enormous amount of contaminated water, which continues to leak into the surrounding soil and sea. Large quantities of contaminated cooling water are accumulating at the site. Failures in the makeshift cooling systems are occurring repeatedly. The discharge of radioactive waste will most likely continue for a long time.”

“Both the damaged nuclear reactors and the spent fuel ponds contain vast amounts of radioactivity and are highly vulnerable to further earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and human error. Catastrophic releases of radioactivity could occur at any time and eliminating this risk will take many decades… It is impossible at this point in time to come up with an exact prognosis of the effects that the Fukushima nuclear disaster will have on the population in Japan… the UNSCEAR report represents a systematic underestimation and conjures up an illusion of scientific certainty that obscures the true impact of the nuclear catastrophe on health and the environment.”

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To read the full text of the rejoinder to the UN report, go to: https://japansafety.wordpress.com/tag/saitama/

Edited June 21, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

“Eerie new phenomenon” attacking sea creatures on West Coast — Marine life disappearing from tide pools — Fish, octopus, mussels, urchins, limpets, sea hares “seem to be leaving… there’s something going on” — “Experts have no idea what to expect next” (VIDEO)

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http://enenews.com/eerie-new-phenomenon-attacking-sea-creatures-west-coast-marine-life-disappearing-tide-pools-fish-octopus-mussels-limpets-sea-hares-be-leaving-going-experts-idea-expect-next-video

[Steven Gaal]

Cover Up – Mainstream Reporting on Fukushima a Joke

http://www.activistpost.com/2015/07/cover-up-mainstream-reporting-on.html

By Terrence Newton

It has been over four years since the 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake and ensuing catastrophic tsunami leveled the Pacific coast of Japan, setting off a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Radiation has been pouring into the ocean, into the earth below, and into the air for over 1500 days now and there is still zero sense of urgency on the part of the government and world leaders to seriously address this blooming catastrophe. All efforts to stop the meltdown and clean up the radiation have been left in the hands of TEPCO, Japan’s energy company that has been proven time and again to be inept and unprepared to confront a disaster of this sort.

The mainstream media, for its part, appears to be complicit in a cover-up of the effects that Fukushima radiation is already having on our environment and on human and animal health, and instead insists on omitting most news on the matter, or seriously dumbing down reports of the fallout.

For example, at CNN.com, a search for ‘Fukushima’ yields only 6 unique related stories for the entire calendar year of 2015 so far. Two of these stories focus on sensationalized footage of underwater robots assisting in the detection of radiation. A third story is ironically about the failure and loss of a first underwater robot. On April 14th, CNN ran a video report with 11 short segments entitled ‘New look inside Fukushima,’ which focused primarily on the lifestyle impact the disaster has had on Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. On February 24th, 2015 CNN ran a very short snippet entitled ‘Highly Radioactive Water Spill Sets Off Alarm at TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant,’ which included this quote:

With discharged water likely to have contained contaminated water, the regulatory body concluded that part of highly radioactive water flew into the plant’s port.

It has yet to find out the cause of the situation.

On January 20th, 2015, CNN ran an article about a TEPCO employee who died by falling inside a water storage tank at Fukushima.

At the home page of FoxNews.com, you might see embarrassing photos of presidential candidates and stories about ISIS, shark attacks, motel shootouts and murder investigations, but very little pressing news about the impacts of Fukushima on public health. A search of their coverage of of Fukushima for 2015 includes a June 30th story about a cool looking new robot called the ‘Scorpion’ that promises to soon get a look at melted fuel inside the reactor. ‘Fukushima’ was tagged and mentioned in a Fox News video report on June 18th, 2015 covering the upcoming robot Olympics, which included the quote, ‘who isn’t excited about Terminator or Genesis?’

A Fox News story about $1.6 billion in wasted cleanup funds in Japan was featured on March 24th, with a retraction published the following day to correct a misprint about who’s funds were allegedly squandered. On March 9th of this year, Fox News also ran a very concise anniversary piece on the disaster, mostly focusing on the prospect of new earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions that could potentially cause more damage to Japan’s nuclear infrastructure. In this article they did mention the ongoing fallout, as is fully quoted here:

Radioactivity released as a result of the Fukushima accident continues to be a problem at the site, which the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is decommissioning.

A radioactive “puddle” was discovered in early March on the roof of one of the damaged buildings, TEPCO said. In late February, engineers also detected a rise in the radioactivity of drainage water,

some of which went into the ocean.

On June 11th and 12th, Fox News ran 2 articles about the proposed 30-40 year ‘roadmap’ to clean up Fukushima, featuring vague guesses as to how some of the major issues at the plant can be resolved.

As examples, here are a couple of choice quotes:

The volume of [radioactive] water grows by 300 tons daily. TEPCO runs it through treatment machines to remove most radioactive elements, and then stores it in thousands of tanks on the compound. Water leaks pose environmental concerns and health risks to workers.

Nuclear experts say conxxxxxed release of the treated water into the ocean would be the ultimate solution.

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The 1,573 units of [highly radioactive and volatile] fuel rods — mostly used but some of them new — are considered among the highest risks at the plant, because they are uncovered within the reactor building. To remove them, the building roofs must be taken off and replaced with a cover that prevents radioactive dust from flying out. Each building is damaged differently and requires its own cover design and equipment.

The government and plant operator TEPCO hope to start the process in 2018, three years later than planned.

On April 13th, Fox News piped in along with CNN in about the loss of the radiation detecting robot. And on January 9th, again in concert with CNN, Fox News also covered the death of the TEPCO employee who fell in the water tank.

The most recent report on Fukushima to be found at MSNBC.com is over a year old, and covers the 2014 anniversary of Fukushima in a short 186-word (including author bio) piece.

CBSNews.com featured on article in 2015 about of the impact of radioactive fallout on birds in the vicinity of Fukushima, which is actually the most thorough report on Fukushima’s environmental impact to be found so far in the mainstream media for 2015.

Even at the ever-popular DrudgeReport.com, 2015 coverage of the Fukushima catastrophe is light and fails to bring attention to the impacts on human and environmental health. A search on their site reveals 10 links (with 2 duplicate links) about Fukushima for 2015, with one link about the arrival of Fukushima contamination on the U.S. Pacific Coast, and another linking to an Independent.UK story about the importation of radioactive Japanese products into Great Britain.

Behind the Glaring Omissions

Hiding behind the glaring omissions of the mainstream press regarding Fukushima is the pressing reality that contamination from the event is severe, continual, on the rise, and already affecting North America. Many smaller and bizarre ecological are taking place as we speak, such as massive marine life die-offs on the Pacific Coastline of the U.S. and Canada, and the detection of radioactive material from Fukushima in our food supply, yet there is no connection between these events and Fukushima in the mainstream news.

Independent Media Runs With the Story

There is, however, plenty of news coming out about Fukushima and plenty of conversation taking place about the impact on the environment and on human health. It’s just not to be found in the mainstream media, who is unquestionably strongly influenced by the nuclear energy industry and the government, and apparently involved in one of the greatest media cover ups of all time.

We know that the mainstream media has the power to rally the golden hordes into action, as is evident in their promotion of a race war and sensationalized coverage of ISIS and other government created threats. In fact, recent news events in the US prove just how malleable public outrage is when the elite wish to make a major pubic policy change or cause a major stir in our social fabric. Take for example the media’s efforts to shove non-issues like the Bruce Jenner sex change in our face.

When it comes to nuclear radiation and the impact it is having on life and our food supply, the dumbing down of events in the mainstream media is exceptional, suggesting that they simply do not wish for the public to know the severity of the crisis, or that they don’t care for us to be forewarned enough to take precautionary measures.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Experts: Plutonium levels 10,000,000 times normal in water below Fukushima reactors — Plutonium hit record high off coast in 2014 — “Has been transported relatively long distances” – Every sample taken from rivers flowing into Pacific had Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241,and Pu-242 from plant

Published: July 10th, 2015 at 3:50 pm ET
By ENENews

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Scientists from Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Hirosaki University, and Peking University (pdf), May 2015 (emphasis added): Pu Distribution in Seawater in the Near Coastal Area off Fukushima… the amount of Pu isotopes directly released into the marine environment remains unknown. In the high level radioactive accumulated water collected at the FDNPP after the accident, high level radioactivities of Pu isotopes (ca. 10-3 Bq/mL) were detected. These values were 6 to 7 orders of magnitudes [1,000,000 – 10,000,000 times] higher than that of the seawater in the western North Pacific. In addition, a new study on Pu isotopes… suggested there was a potential sediment-borne Pu supply from Fukushima coastal rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Thus more attention should be paid to the contamination situation of Pu isotopes in the marine environment off Fukushima since the FDNPP accident… Pu isotopes in seawater… needs to be routinely investigated… There are two sampling sites close to the FDNP… 239+240Pu concentrations in seawater were reported in 2012-2014 and the range was from detection limit to 14 mBq/m3 except 31 mBq/m3 observed at T-2-1 site on 10 April 2014.

Scientists from Japan, Belgium, and French gov’t (pdf), 2015: Tracing the dispersion of contaminated sediment with plutonium isotope measurements in coastal catchments of Fukushima Prefecture — The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident led to important releases of radionuclides into the environment, and trace levels of plutonium (Pu) were detected in northeastern Japan… In this study, we measured Pu isotopic ratios in recently deposited sediments along rivers draining the most contaminated part of the inland radioactive plume… Results showed that the entire range of measured Pu isotopes (i.e. 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, and 242Pu) were detected in all samples, although in extremely low concentrations. The 241Pu/239Pu atom ratios measured in sediment deposits (0.0017 – 0.0884) were significantly higher than the corresponding values attributed to the global fallout (0.00113 – 0.00008 on average in the Northern Hemisphere between 31-71 N)… These results demonstrate that this radionuclide has been transported relatively long distances… and deposited in rivers representing a potential source of Pu to the ocean.

See also: Plutonium-241 from Fukushima nearly 70,000 times more than atomic bomb fallout in Japan — Gov’t Labs: Large areas of oceans contaminated by plutonium from events such as Fukushima; Build-up in biosphere expected; Considerable hazard to humans

Edited July 11, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Cesium-134/137 measured over 200 percent of safety level from Fukushima rice

by Mochizuki

According to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, excessive amount of Cs-134/137 was detected from two unpolished rice samples produced in Fukushima city.

The rice was experimentally produced but not distributed, the farmer states. The highest reading was 220 Bq/Kg in total of Cs-134/137. The safety limit is supposed to be 100 Bq/Kg.

The sample was brought to Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre this July.

http://www.mhlw.go.jp/file/04-Houdouhappyou-11135000-Shokuhinanzenbu-Kanshianzenka/0000091483.pdf

http://jishin-yogen.com/blog-entry-7178.html

Edited July 16, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Unprecedented emergency statewide fishing closures enacted in Pacific Northwest — “We’ve never had to do anything like this” — “Very alarming” mass die-offs linked to disease outbreak — Nearly 100% infection rate in some areas — Rotting gills, distended bellies — NOAA: It’s a ‘head scratcher’ (VIDEOS)

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Published: July 17th, 2015 at 2:26 pm ET
By ENENews

KTVZ, Jul 16, 2015 (emphasis added): Restricting fishing in Oregon streams and rivers for the first time ever… Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife announced it’s taking drastic measures… they’ve never had to do this before… ODFW: “We’re starting to see fish kills in more places than we typically do. This is a pretty extreme set of conditions.”

Statesman Journal, Jul 16, 2015: [ODFW is taking] an unprecedented step… The move comes on the heels of multiple fish die-offs… “We’ve never had to do anything like this before — we’re in new territory,” said [ODFW's] Bruce McIntosh.

Mail Tribune (Oregon), Jul 16, 2015: Emergency fishing closures go statewide

Spokesman Review, Jul 17, 2015: Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officials are enacting fishing restrictions involving 38 rivers… emergency rules take effect on Saturday.

AP, Jul 9, 2015: Fisheries biologist Rod French said [dead salmon] appeared to have been infected with a gill rot disease

The Oregonian, Jul 10, 2015: Scores of dead salmon are washing ashore… mortality rates are rapidly rising for juvenile fish near John Day Dam… [French] said it appears the fish are dying from a bacterial infection… “It’s very alarming that we’re seeing them this early,” he said… [Paul Wagner, NOAA fisheries biologist] called it a head scratcher. The die-offs seem to be associated with disease, he said.

Siskiyou Daily (Calif.), May 19, 2015: Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team has raised its level of alert… due to an increased detection of a deadly disease…. Chinook salmon tested in two reaches of the Klamath River… reached a 100-percent prevalence of infection [for] one of the deadliest salmon diseases… [Juveniles] have been found with… distended bellies, pale-colored gill and gill erosion… [N]ear the Scott and Klamath rivers confluence… 86 out of 120 showing distended bellies and 87 out of 114 showing pale gills…

OPB, Jun 9, 2015: More than half of the 3-inch long Chinook in the [Klamath River] trap are either dead or showing signs of a serious parasitic infection… nearly 100 percent of Chinook caught in this fish trap in early May were infected.

KATU (Portland), Jul 10, 2015: Salmon and trout, even sturgeon, are dying like never before… on the Deschutes, Santiam, Mackenzie, Clackamas, and other rivers.

KGW (Portland), Jul 7, 2015: It just seems like it’s getting worse… the issue certainly hasn’t improved since we reported on it 2 weeks ago… Chinook salmon, even some sturgeon, continue to wash up… Several fishermen I spoke with down here today, well they’re worried… Pretty much everywhere you look… dead fish… Starting last month, Chinook salmon began washing up… far short of their spawning grounds… It’s all the talk among local fisherman, “I’ve lived here about 25 years, and I’m an avid fishermen. I’ve never seen any fish like this on the bank as much as I’ve seen this year.”

KOIN (Portland), Jun 19, 2015: Is this a really big concern right now? Very much so… “I’ve never seen it like that before“… The Chinook are on their way back from the ocean… Fishermen are coming up empty and are worried.

KGW, Jun 22, 2015: A startling site… Chinook salmon dying in the rivers… Biologists counted more than 100 on just a 3 mile stretch… We came down here this morning expecting to find 1, maybe 2, dead Chinook salmon. Boy, were we wrong — you can find them about every 20 yards… one after another… Have you ever seen that before? “Never, ever, ever, ever.” Jeannie Brooks has been fishing [here] with her dad for decades, never before had she seen this… “I looked all the way down and thought, what are all these dead fish doing here?”

KPTV (Oregon), Jun 19, 2015: One after another… “I never saw a dead fish, ever, here.”

KGW, Jul 9, 2015: [A diver] told us what he’s been seeing under the surface… there are salmon sitting dead in spots on the Clakamas River bottom… littered here and there.

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Watch: KTVZ | KATU | KGW | KOIN | KGW| KPTV | KGW

Edited July 19, 2015 by Steven Gaal