8/2/2019 NuclearCrimes.org Advisory for Banning Pacific Seafood in Diet

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NuclearCrimes.org Advisory for Banning Pacific Seafood in Diet:

April 11, 2012

Since the summer of 2011, U.S. scientists have observed several dozen living and dead

Pacific Ocean marine mammals with a strangely similar condition of skin sores and hairloss. These animals may be suffering from 'beta burns,' which are caused by significant

external exposure to 'beta emitters' such as radiostrontiums, which were released in copious

quantities to the Pacific Ocean at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Note that in April 2011 threeTEPCO workers sustained radiation injuries to their feet while in standing water. TEPCO

ignored the obvious culprit of these 'beta burns,' strontium-89 and/or strontium-90, both

'beta-emitters' commonly found in nuclear spent fuel. These beta-emitters, upon contactwith a victim, can cause external injuries including hair loss, sores and lesions. These and

other radioactive isotopes from Fukushima now found throughout the Pacific Ocean are

also available for internal contamination of sea plants and animals. Consider that Alaska-caught fish and marine mammals in the late 1950s tested by scientists were found to be an

order of magnitude more radioactive in strontium-90 content than most land-grown foods.

These animals were swimming and feeding in radioactive water that originated from

sources thousands of miles away. Our concern is that fish harvested this season alongNorth America's Pacific coastline may be contaminated with unsafe levels of radioactivity.

There is no safe level of radioactivity and a small number of deaths will occur in anypopulation with every increase in that population's total radioactive exposure. This is

admitted by the FDA, which asserts that a 1 Rem dose increases a person's cancer mortality

risk by 0.045 percent. The late radiobiologist John Gofman, however, believed the fatalcancer risk from that exposure is 6 times greater. The FDA's Derived Intervention Level

(DIL) for iodine-131, for example, reflects this risk factor. It actually predicts two fatal

cancers in a population of 10,000 persons who consume foods at that threshold 'DIL' level.

Using Gofman's risk factor, twelve 'extra' cancer fatalities would result in that population.The best public health option is to ensure no radioactive foods enter the marketplace. But

since there is absolutely no adequate monitoring in place for Pacific Ocean seafood, all

seafood from the Pacific should be avoided.

Source: 'Radiological Health Data,' January 1961, U.S. Public Health Service, p. 21

('Strontium-90 Concentrations in Food Samples Taken in State of Alaska')

See chapters 3 ('Global fallout') and 12 ('Fukushima Daiichi') of ourbookfor greater

context. For more about Fukushima's impact on Alaska's environment, visitappendix 12.

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