39. To the extent they can be known, the quantities and make-up of radiation pouring out of Fukushima are also now a state secret, with independent measurement or public speculation punishable by up to ten years in prison.
40. Likewise, "There is no systematic testing in the U.S. of air, food and water for radiation," according to University of California (Berkeley) nuclear engineering Professor Eric Norman.
41. Many radioactive isotopes tend to concentrate as they pour into the air and water, so deadly clumps of Fukushima's radiation may migrate throughout the oceans for centuries to come before diffusing, which even then may not render it harmless.
42. Radiation's real world impact becomes even harder to measure in an increasingly polluted biosphere, where interaction with existing toxins creates a synergy likely to exponentially accelerate the damage being done to all living things.
43. Reported devastation among starfish, sardines, salmon, sea lions, orcas and other ocean animals cannot be definitively denied without a credible data base of previous experimentation and monitoring, which does not exist and is not being established.
44. The fact that "tiny" doses of x-ray can harm human embryos portends that any unnatural introduction of lethal radioactive isotopes into the biosphere, however "diffuse," can affect our intertwined global ecology in ways we don't now understand.
45. The impact of allegedly "minuscule" doses spreading from Fukushima will, over time, affect the minuscule eggs of creatures ranging from sardines to starfish to sea lions, with their lethal impact enhanced by the other pollutants already in the sea.
46. Dose comparisons to bananas and other natural sources are absurd and misleading as the myriad isotopes from reactor fallout will impose very different biological impacts for centuries to come in a wide range of ecological settings.
47. No current dismissal of general human and ecological impacts--"apocalyptic" or otherwise--can account over time for the very long half-lives of radioactive isotopes Fukushima is now pouring into the biosphere.
48. As Fukushima's impacts spread through the centuries, the one certainty is that no matter what evidence materializes, the nuclear industry will never admit to doing any damage, and will never be forced to pay for it (see upcoming sequel).
49. Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear navy, warned that it is a form of suicide to raise radiation levels within Earth's vital envelope, and that if he could, he would "sink" all the reactors he helped develop.
50. "Now when we go back to using nuclear power," he said in 1982, "I think the human race is going to wreck itself, and it is important that we get control of this horrible force and try to eliminate it."
As Fukushima deteriorates behind an iron curtain of secrecy and deceit, we desperately need to know what it's doing to us and our planet.
It's tempting to say the truth lies somewhere between the industry's lies and the rising fear of a tangible apocalypse.
In fact, the answers lie beyond.
Defined by seven decades of deceit, denial and a see-no-evil dearth of meaningful scientific study, the glib corporate assurances that this latest reactor disaster won't hurt us fade to absurdity.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
